Brandon Holloway
Dr. Omega Moore
ENGL 2222
15 April 2013

Fear and Violence
First let me start off by saying that fear and violence has been amongst are people since the beginning of captivity. Brought over from the motherland of Africa, fear of the unknown became evident. Violence for sure was evident as it was the force used to capture the slaves. Although the reasoning for the Europeans enslaving Africans was free labor their motives slightly changed as time progressed. Let’s bring our attention to the 1800’s. This was a time when slavery was near its peak if not already there. During these times, days were spent on big, hot and dry plantations, where the heat as well as the masa were unforgiving. The quota must be met by the end of the day and with little help it was almost impossible to do. Although this was not a pleasant way to spend life, some of the smarter slaves in my opinion decided to make light of the situation and found a way to cope with it. This was by way of what scholars call “Negro Spirituals.” These were religious songs song by slaves as sort of a pick me up or something to help get the slaves along with their work. Some of the most memorable spirituals are “God’s a Gonna Trouble the Water” and “Soon I will be done.” Later on through slavery such songs were then referred to as work songs such as “Pick a Bale of Cotton” and “ Go Down, Old Hannah.” With the fear of the lord and that of the masa to meet your mark, these spirituals served as something to calm nerves and even though it didn’t take away the pain and suffering, you could find inspiration and hope through some. As we progress forward to the 20th century, we notice certain ways of life have begun to change. The fear that blacks would become educated enough to overtake the government and the thought that African Americans could actually (if they wanted to) do everything just as good, or even better than the white man has brought forth new forms of oppression. Due to the increase of