Many Thousand Gone (Auction Block)

DESCRIPTION: The freed slave rejoices to be done with abuse: "No more auction block for me... Nor more pint of salt for me... No more peck of corn for me... No more driver's lash for me..." (etc.)
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1862 (J. McKim)
KEYWORDS: slavery freedom
FOUND IN: Canada(Mar) US(SE)
REFERENCES (19 citations):
Allen/Ware/Garrison-SlaveSongsUnitedStates, p. 45, (no title; filed with "Hail Mary" on the basis of the tune); p. 48, "Many Thousand Go" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Dett/Fenner/Rathbun/Cleveland-ReligiousFolkSongsOfTheNegro-HamptonInstitute, p. 233, "No More Auction Block (Many Thousand Gone)" (1 text, 1 tune; p. 95 in the 1901 edition) [for 1893 edition, see notes]
Joyner-FolkSongInSouthCarolina, p. 94, "Many Thousand Gone" (1 text, 1 tune, clearly this although it does not mention the auction block)
Fowke/Johnston-FolkSongsOfCanada, pp. 30-31, "Auction Block" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton/Senior-TraditionalSongsOfNovaScotia, pp. 279, "Auction Block" (1 text, 1 tune)
Pottie/Ellis-FolksongsOfTheMaritimes, pp. 8-9, "Auction Block" (1 text, 1 tune)
Higginson-ArmyLifeInABlackRegiment 35, p. 218, "Many Thousand Go" (1 text)
Scott-TheBalladOfAmerica, pp. 238-239, "Many Thousand Gone" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-SongsOfTheCivilWar, p. 296, "May Thousand Gone" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-SoldierSongsAndHomeFrontBalladsOfCivilWar, p. 71, "Many Thousand Gone" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax/Lomax-AmericanBalladsAndFolkSongs, p. 577, "Many T'ousand Go" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-FolkSongsOfNorthAmerica 238, "Many Thousands Gone" (1 text, 1 tune)
Arnett-IHearAmericaSinging, p. 83, "Many Thousand Go" (1 text, 1 tune)
Greenway-AmericanFolksongsOfProtest, pp. 101-102, "Many Thousand Gone" (1 text, 1 tune)
Foner-AmericanLaborSongsOfTheNineteenthCentury, p. 95, "Many Thousand Gone" (1 text)
Darling-NewAmericanSongster, pp. 353-354, "Many Thousand Go (No More Auction Block)" (1 text)
Fireside-Book-of-Folk-Songs, p. 187, "Many Thousan' Gone" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber/Silber-FolksingersWordbook, p. 296, "Many Thousand Gone" (1 text)
ADDITIONAL: J. McKim, "Negro Songs" in _Dwight's Journal of Music_, Vol. 21, No. 19 (Whole No. 540), p. 149, ("Many Thousand Die") (1 text)
ST FJ030 (Partial)
Roud #3348
RECORDINGS:
Pete Seeger, "No More Auction Block" (on PeteSeeger31)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Blowin' in the Wind" (tune said to be derived from a version of this)
NOTES [110 words]: The index to the 1893 edition [of Dett/Fenner/Rathbun/Cleveland-ReligiousFolkSongsOfTheNegro-HamptonInstitute] has "Many Thousands Gone" on page 90, with the note "Fisk Jubilee Collection, by permission" (Thomas P. Fenner and Frederic G. Rathbun, x (New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1893)). I have not seen page 90.
J. McKim's 1862 letter from Port Royal discusses hearing this song sung by black soldiers of the first regiment of South Carolina volunteers, rowing back from St. Helena's. "They have one [song] that has a cheerful, and, as it sounded when I first heard it, a hilarious ring. It is a new one, made, as they say, "since secesh [secesson] times." - BS
Last updated in version 6.7
File: FJ030

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