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Song Samples (MP3 Format) Shenandoah (3.122 MB mp3 file) Square Dance (742 KB mp3 file) This volume includes forty-four of the songs Americans sang as their nation expanded westward across the continent during the period between the War of 1812 and the Civil War. Playing time: two hours. "...entertaining interpretations of American history through folksong." --- American West
As the United States expanded into the old Northwest Territory, Louisiana Territory and the Pacific Northwest, Americans built canals, cut forests, farmed the land, and trapped beaver. Their songs reflected their pride, fears and hopes, and described the dangers, the boredom, the discomforts and the loneliness of life on these new frontiers. Songs were effective tools for African-Americans. Slaves spread the word of escape plans through "code" songs. Songs about the hardships of slavery helped recruit white support for abolition and the Underground Railroad.
Part Two: The lyric quality and rhythmic patterns of Mexican folk music reflect our Mexican heritage. Americans who settled in Texas sang of Texas Rangers and the struggle to make Texas a republic. During the Mexican War, soldiers sang of American General Zachary Taylor and Mexican General Santa Anna, of the 2,000 mile march of the Mormon Battalion, and of brutal treatment at the hands of their own officers.
Part Three: Miners carried minstrel tunes to the gold camps in California and wrote parodies which created a vivid picture of life among the forty-niners.
Part Four The songs depict the prejudice against California's Chinese population in the 1850s and the suffering of the Irish, fleeing famine, as they migrated to a new, often hostile, home in America. The songs also reflect the defiance and spirit of the Germans who, after losing the fight for a free Germany, sought freedom in the United States.
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