The emergence of African American literature can be traced to the

arrival of about twenty Africans on the hijacked Portuguese slave ship, São João
Bautista, in Jamestown, Virginia in 1619. They were the first African slaves to
arrive America. As a coping mechanism, they often sang songs to cheer
themselves on while working under terrible, inhumane conditions. Although these
songs, or oral expressions as it were, may not be termed poems or literature in
the traditional sense, they laid a foundation for the pioneer Black American poets.

It is a fact that in most traditions of the world, oracy predates literacy.

There is evidence of this in the Old English poetry which was originally passed
down orally. Here in Nigeria, we have folk songs that have been sung for a long
time before they became written. African American literature is no exception to
this.

African American literature was informed by a period of songs in "Black

Folk English", a substandard variety of English spoken by black slaves. This period
is known as the vernacular tradition in African American literature. They sang
what is known as work songs or slave songs which included folktales, spadesongs,
spirituals, blues, gospels, ballads and sermons. As much as some of these songs
were a form of entertainment to keep them working, it also was a way of
narrating their own experiences as slaves.

These songs, usually anonymous and passed down orally, preserved the
history and experiences of African slaves on American soil. Often in a call and
response manner, they typically portray slavery, the dilemma of being separated
from their roots and the desire to return, hopelessness on the idea of physical
freedom, promotion of the black spirit and culture, the idea of mental escape, the
need for freedom and emancipation, and solace in religion.

Perhaps as a form of consolation, they sing about hope of going to meet

their saviour and about a place where there would be no more suffering, enduring
the hardship of this life and triumphing in the next. In "Swing Low, Sweet
Chariots", there's a "band of angels" coming to "carry me home". This was likely a
way of giving themselves hope for a future in heaven when they are gone from
this world.

Oral expressions from the African American Vernacular tradition like

"No More Auction Block for Me", "Go Down, Moses", and "Swing Low, Sweet
Chariot" may not be classified as literature, as they were overly repititive and
lacked a distinct style. But they had an informed the pioneer Black American
poets.

The slave masters not only enslaved them physically but also tried to
enslave them mentally. They forbided slaves from reading and writing to restrict
them from the enlightenment that comes from literacy. Some slaves, however,
secretly learnt to read and write. Some of them wrote poems as soon as they
learnt to read and write in English and they are the pioneer Black American poets.
They were the earliest black slaves to write poetry and although their poems
mostly evaded the topics of slavery and race, they wrote nonetheless and this
was one grand step to their freedom from mental slavery.
 In 1746, the very first known African American poetry, "Bars Fight" was
written by Lucy Terry, a black slave. This poem was not published until about a
century later in 1855. Prior to this, in 1773, Phillis Wheatley published the very
first African American poetry "On Being Brought From Africa to America". Her
poem established African American poetry as a genre. Wheatley was born in
Gambia, captured, and brought as a slave to America at the tender age of seven.
Her masters, the Wheatleys, whose surname she adopted, taught her to read and
write and encouraged her poetry when they realized she was gifted at a young
age. Jupiter Hammon was another pioneer poet, he wrote on slavery and religion
but died as a slave. He wrote an ode to Wheatley in 1778 and titled it "An Address
to Miss Phillis Wheatley".

The poems of these poets have several themes in common. One was
that they carefully avoided dwelling so much on slavery and issues of race. They
emphasized several things like their new-found faith and spirituality, but often
evaded dwelling on the horrific realities of slavery. Terry does not mention
slavery in her poem at all, Wheatley and Hammon acknowledge slavery, but
chose to see it from a different perspective. Perhaps, dwelling on the positive
things in their lives was a way of coping, or it was just to please their white
masters.

A common thing to these poems is that the Europeans were often

glorified in their poems. One can however not fault these poets because they had
been conditioned to view the white man and his culture as superior and theirs as
inferior or backward. Even after the abolition of slavery in 1865, many black slaves
still looked to the whites for support and as a model for everything.

Terry's "Bars Fight" recounts the strory of the masaacre of British

colonialists by the Native Americans. It is ironic that the indigenes of the land are
described as "awful creatures", while the colonialists are painted as victims and
termed as "heroes" and "bold". There's an element of this glorification of the
white man and his culture and the degradation of the African culture in
Wheatley's "On Being Brought..." and Hammond's "An Address to Miss Phillis
Wheatley". Phillis recounts that it was mercy that brought her from her "pagan"
land to America where she found redemption. Hammond also refers to Africa as a
"dark abode". They both imply that the European's land is better than where they
originally come from.

The consolation in finding the Christian faith is one common ground for
pioneer poets. The poets joy in finding the christian God as seen in Hammond's
ode to Wheatley. Wheatley says her "benighted soul" has the tendencies of
being refined and joining "th' angelic train". She claims that her soul was not
enlightened when she refers to her soul as benighted. Christianity that comes
with slavery therefore could make her refined and join the angelic train. This
reflects her desire to emulate the white man and set their lives as the standard.
 In conclusion, while the pioneer poems differ in style and context, they
provide insights into the experiences and challenges faced by African slaves
during a critical period in American history. These poems marked the emergence
of a distinct genre of poetry in America — African American poetry largely
informed by slavery (and all its byproducts like Christianity and western
education) and oral expressions of the earliest black slaves in America. This
poetry was neither African nor American. It still is not. It was for and by Africans
slaves in America. This literature has evolved over the years, changing the
narrative of present day African Americans.

References:

Prince, Lucy T. "Bars Fight". History of Western Massachusetts. 1855

Wheatley, Phillis. "On Being Brought from Africa to America". Poems on Various
Subjects, Religious and Moral. 1773

Hammon, Jupiter. "An Address to Miss Phillis Wheatley". 1778

Wikipedia contributors. (n.d.). Jupiter Hammon. Wikipedia.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jupiter_Hammon
Phillis Wheatley. (n.d.). Phillis Wheatley.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phillis_Wheatley