One of the first documentary collections of Negro folk songs was compiled in 1867 by William Francis Allen, Charles Pickard Ware and Lucy McKim Garrison. Under the title Slave Songs of the United States, this collection of136 authentic folk songs of the Negro people revolutionized America's understanding of this music. The book, which contains spirituals, work songs, field hollers, soldier songs of Civil War days, and freedom songs, has become aclassic of its kind. These songs provide the...