1/ A long time ago: Black people in the American fields....

You may remember the story of the first group of Black people who were brought to America in 1619. More Black people arrived as slaves and they worked in the fields of cotton, or tobacco or sugar.

This system had a name: the slave-trade. Black slaves sometimes were separated from their family, because they were sold like animals. They were not very happy, they were sad (=they "had the blues").

So what possibility was there? Nothing, except the American Black population had one rich tradition from Africa: they sang. Singing was good to remember all Black people came from Africa, and to feel strong. When they sang, Black people "forgot" they lived in slavery.
click on the CD to listen to a very famous gospel song by Black people.