[Ads-l] "Shout Song" (Not in OED)

[Shapiro, Fred]

A significant term in African American history that is not in the OED is "shout song."  Below is the earliest citation I have found.

shout song (not in OED)

1877 Boston Daily Advertiser 21 Aug. 1 (GenealogyBank)

What more wonderful, suggestive, or, indeed, happy epitome of the sixteen swift years since Fort Sumter was fired upon can be found than in the appearance of these earnest colored performers ... "Shout songs" of a religious character form the staple of the music.

Fred Shapiro

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