Donate
Search wpr.org
A fresh new WPR is coming. New schedules start May 20. Learn more -->

The Spiritual – Songs of Suffering and Solace

Air Date:
Heard On The Odyssey Series
Public Domain — The Old Plantation is a North American folk art watercolor, believed to have been painted in the late 18th century on a South Carolina plantation depicting enslaved Africans on the North American mainland. The artist was John Rose, a slaveholder capturing a scene of what may have been on his plantation in what is today called Beaufort County.

Those enslaved in the ‘new world’ found over time an imaginary pathway to freedom, painfully and soberly longed for, and not necessarily during their earthly lifetime, but perhaps in the next.

Episode Credits

  • Dr. Jonathan Øverby Host
  • Dr. Jonathan Øverby Producer
  • Tom Blain Technical Director

Wisconsin Public Radio, © Copyright 2024, Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System and Wisconsin Educational Communications Board.

Related Stories