Why Enslaved Black People In The Caribbean Didn't Compose Songs That Referenced Biblical People Or Events, Part I

Edited by Azizi Powell

This is Part I of a two part pancocojams series that presents information that explains why enslaved Black people in the Caribbean (i.e. the West Indies) didn't compose songs that referenced Old Testament or New Testament Biblical people or events as was the case with enslaved African Americans (i.e. the "Negro Spirituals" now referred to as "African American Spirituals).

This pancocojams post presents a complete reprint of the Google Search's AI Overview's results of my September 12, 2026 query about this subject.

The content of this post is presented for historical, socio-cultural, and educational purposes.

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2026/09/why-enslaved-black-people-in-caribbean_02077369660.html for Part II of this pancocojams series. That post presents quotes from some of the online sources that were cited in Part I (AI Overview).

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post.
-snip-
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2026/09/the-differences-between-african.html for the closely related pancocojams post "The Differences Between African American Spirituals And African American Gospel Songs (2026 reprint of a 2016 pancocojams post),"

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DISCLAIMER
My highlighting this AI Overview result doesn't mean that I'm supportive of AI technology and every AI Overview write-ups.

I'm presenting a complete reprint of this particular AI generated summation because it is a summation that I find succinct and accurate. (This is in contrast to some AI Overviews that I've read (in response to my queries) that didn't include pertinent information and/or included inaccurate information and/or included conclusions that I consider to be false or misleading.  

To quote the sentence that every AI Overview write-up ends with: "AI can make mistakes, so double-check responses."

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COMPLETE REPRINT OF AI OVERVIEW RESULTS FOR THIS QUERY (retrieved September 12, 2026)

(This reprint is given with citations. The bold font is given the same as in the original write-up.)

AI Overview
"The absence of prominent biblical themes in Afro-Caribbean music prior to emancipation contrasts sharply with the "Negro Spirituals" of North America. This difference was not a matter of musical capability, but rather a direct result of the specific demographic, religious, and colonial structures of the Caribbean plantation system.

While enslaved people in North America were heavily Christianized early on, the Caribbean experience relied on entirely different dynamics.
[Source-https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2289&context=masters- Liberty University School of Music Masters thesis by Jana Dara Jones, January 2025: "The Shared Roots and Divergent Paths of African American Spirituals and AfroCaribbean Music". hereafter given as "Liberty University"]

1. Active Exclusion from Christianity

In the Caribbean, white plantocrats and colonial assemblies actively blocked enslaved Africans from accessing Christianity. Planters believed that baptism might legally require them to free their slaves or that teaching Christian concepts—especially the concept of spiritual equality before God—would incite rebellions. [1] (https://www.history.com/articles/slave-bible-redacted-old-testament)

The few places of worship that existed were reserved almost exclusively for white colonists. When Bibles were introduced late in the colonial era, they were often highly redacted "Slave Bibles" that removed the entire Book of Exodus and any references to liberation. Without access to the text or Christian instruction, biblical imagery simply could not enter the folk music repertoire. [1] (Liberty University)

2. Demographic Differences and Re-Africanization

The Caribbean slave trade relied on a brutal system of high mortality and constant replenishment. Unlike North America, where the slave population became largely native-born by the 18th century, the Caribbean saw a continuous influx of newly arrived Africans direct from the continent. [1] ("Liberty University". [2] (https://www.quora.com/When-did-Afro-Caribbean-and-African-American-music-diverge-and-turn-into-distinct-traditions-What-drove-those-differences hereafter given as "quora.com")

North America: Enslaved populations were generations removed from Africa and highly immersed in European language and religion.

The Caribbean: The constant arrival of African-born individuals kept original West and Central African languages, worldviews, and belief systems vibrant and dominant. [1] (https://www.reddit.com/r/LetsTalkMusic/comments/1w8bpnw/how_much_of_african_musical_culture_survived/), [2] "Liberty University")

3. Preservation of African Spiritual Systems

Because Caribbean plantations were massive and white populations were tiny, enslaved communities maintained a higher degree of cultural autonomy. Instead of adopting the Bible, they retained and adapted African spiritualities. They sang to, and through, systems like Obeah, Myal, Vodou, and Santería ("Liberty University")

In Catholic colonies (like Haiti and Cuba), African deities were masked behind Catholic saints (syncretism), keeping traditional drumming and chants alive under a thin veneer of Catholicism. [1] ("quora.com)"

In Protestant colonies (like Jamaica and Barbados), music remained rooted in secular work songs, ancestral communication, and satirical social commentary (the precursors to Calypso and Mento[s]) rather than scripture. [1] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/An_African_Song_or_Chant_from_Barbados)

4. Direct Bans on Literacy and Drumming

While North American enslaved people were banned from drumming (forcing them to develop sophisticated vocal spirituals), Caribbean slaves were often permitted to drum because planters thought it kept them content. However, strict laws across the Caribbean forbade teaching enslaved people to read or write under pain of death. Music was composed orally and spontaneously. Because the Bible requires text or a preacher to disseminate its specific narratives, the lack of literacy paired with a lack of missionaries meant the specific names, stories, and metaphors of the Bible were entirely absent from the acoustic landscape. [1] (https://www.si.edu/spotlight/african-american-music/roots-of-african-american-music), [2] quora.com),
 [3] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/An_African_Song_or_Chant_from_Barbados)

 
The Post-Emancipation Shift

It was only after the abolition of slavery—and during events like the Great Revival of the 1860s—that mass Christianization swept the Caribbean. Once freedom was achieved, communities blended fundamentalist Christian practices with African musical structures, giving rise to genres like Revival Zion, Pukkumina, and Rastafarian chants, which finally wove biblical narratives deeply into the Afro-Caribbean musical tradition. [1] [Google: Jamaican Cult Music-Various)

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This concludes Part I of this two part pancocojams series.

Thanks for visiting pancocojams 

Visitor comments are welcome. 

A Traditional Caribbean Jonkonoo Song & Three Contemporary Jonkanoo Videos From The Bahamas

Edited by Azizi Powell

This post provides a song example, information, comments, and video examples of Jonkanoo.

Part I of this post showcases a text (word only) version of the traditional Caribbean song "Christmus A Come" from the 1981 book Mango Spice- 44 Caribbean Songs edited by Yvonne Conolly, Gloria Cameron, and Sonia Singham (with music scores & drawings; A&C Black, London, pp.33-34). The editors' notes to this song, which are included in this post, describe "Christmus A Come" as a Jonkunnu song.

Part II of this post provides general information & comments about Jonkanoo in the Caribbean and in the United States.

Part III of this post showcases three contemporary videos of Jonkunnu celebrations from the Bahamas.

The content of this post is presented for folkloric, cultural, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

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PART I: LYRICS: CHRISTMUS A COME
(traditional Caribbean)

Christmus a come, me wan me lama,
Christmus a come, me wan me lama,
Christmus a come, me wan me deggeday,
Christmus a come, me wan me deggeday.

Pretty, pretty gal, me wan me lama,
Pretty, pretty gal, me wan me lama,
Pretty, pretty gal, me wan me deggeday,
Pretty, pretty gal, me wan me deggeday.

Not a shoe to me foot, me wan me lama,
Not a shoe to me foot, me wan me lama.
Pretty, pretty gal, me wan me deggeday,
Pretty, pretty gal, me wan me deggeday.

Not a hat to me head...

Not a bangle to me han...
-snip-
Notes:
"This is a Jonkannu song. Jonkannu is a Christmas festivity which dates back to the days of slavery. Processions of merrymakers, masked dancers and drummers go through the streets singing and playing fifes. The masks the dancers wear are often made to resemble the heads of cows and horses, and other characters like the Bride and Devil are mimed. During slavery, the Jonkunnu processions collected money from the onlookers to pay for their own Christmas celebrations and this song was sung to draw attention to their lack of finery and money to pay for it.

lama-presents
deggeday-finery"

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PART II: ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ABOUT JONKANOO
From http://www.yale.edu/glc/belisario/Bilby.pdf "Masking the Spirit in the South Atlantic World: Jankunu’s Partially‐ Hidden History", Kenneth Bilby, Center for Black Music Research, Columbia College, Chicago; 2007.

Kenneth Bilby wrote that "The historical evidence strongly suggests that the Jankunu festival originated in Jamaica during the 18th century – possibly earlier. From there it seems to have spread to other English speaking colonial territories where slavery was entrenched, including British Honduras (now known as Belize) and other parts of Central America, North and South Carolina, Virginia, and the Bahamas." Bilby indicates that contemporary researchers have focused "three “clusters” of West African festival traditions: 1) the yam festival of the Mmo secret society of the Igbo peoples; 2) the Egungun masquerades of the Yoruba; and, 3) the Homowo yam festival of the Ga people (Patterson 1969 [1967]: 244‐47)" as the sources for the Jonkanoo celebrations. But "the evidence suggests that the more obviously European‐derived components of the Christmas festivities – which included “actor” characters, mumming troupes, and fife and drum bands – eventually overshadowed the more obviously African‐derived components. Those aspects of the creolized Christmas celebrations generally perceived to be of African origin were heavily stigmatized, and their suppression gradually forced them underground, while those aspects understood to be of European derivation emerged as the dominant forms....)

As a result, in Jamaica today, although its partial African origins are still acknowledged, Jankunu is almost universally understood to be a secular form of masquerading involving silent mumming by all‐male troupes to the music of fife and drum bands. Singing is never involved in these newer, now dominant forms. Investigation of the written historical sources, however, shows that Jankunu was quite different from this during its heyday in the 18th and 19th centuries, when it flourished on slave plantations. As opposed to silent mumming backed by a fife and drum band, the older forms of Jankunu most often featured a mixed male‐female chorus, and a lead dancer wearing a large headdress in the shape of a house, together with a unique type of square or rectangular frame drum played with the hands, known as the gumbe (also sometimes spelled gumbay or goombay)"

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From http://www.presnc.org/Community/Jonkonnu-Celebration-at-Bellamy-Mansion Jonkonnu Celebration at Bellamy Mansion , February 04, 2008
"This [Jonkanoo] festival - a unique blend of West African traditions -- used to take place between Christmas and New Year's from antebellum times through the late 19th century. Originating in enslaved communities, it included masked dancers, vibrant costumes and original songs and chants performed to the sound of bones, cows' horns, drums and triangles. The musicians' songs were in the African tradition of call and response and included sometimes irreverant songs about their masters.

The group paraded from house to house, stopping to perform and collect coins and candies from the people inside, usually their white masters. The procession concluded at their quarters where festvities continued including the serving of foods, among them sweet cakes like gingerbread. The first recorded report of Jonkonnu was in 1774 from the Caribbean, where it still thrives. Jonkonnu appeared in North America, but it was not widespread. Antebellum accounts of the festivities all come from North Carolina. There are descriptions from Edenton, Hillsborough, and Creswell, but Jonkonnu thrived longest in the Wilmington area. In her 1861 book, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Harriet Jacobs, an escaped slave from Edenton, recounted the excitement that accompanied the festive holiday event and describes the colorful ragman costumes, dancing, music, and gumba box drums.”

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From http://voices.yahoo.com/junkanoo-north-carolina-african-7471872.html Junkanoo in North Carolina: An African American Celebration" by Niambi Davis, Yahoo Contributor Network
Dec 25, 2010
..."Questions of spelling and origin aside, one thing is certain - Junkanoo is African to its core.
Junkanoo is considered a Bahamian or Jamaican tradition, but two centuries ago, African-Americans in North Carolina observed a nearly identical celebration. They called it Johnkankus; and like their Caribbean counterparts, masqueraders took to the road in costumes made from colorful rags, tattered clothing, wigs and cast-off finery. They wore masks and made music from whatever could be found - bottles, bones, spoons, castanets - anything that called up the ancestral rhythm; one that survived the middle passage and thwarted every futile attempt to stamp it out. Johnkankus was a festive time, a brief respite from the day-to-day grind of life as a slave. Harriet Jacobs, author of "Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Written by Herself," noted that "every child rises early on Christmas morning to see the Johnkankus...These companies of a hundred each, turn out early in the morning and are allowed to go around until twelve o'clock (midnight)."

Not everyone looked forward to Johnkankus with the same excitement. According to one observer "there are grades among the slaves as in all other classes of society, and those who rank highest will not join in this species of beggary and frolick combined."Johnkankus waned in popularity after emancipation. For many African Americans, instead of a celebration of heritage, it was an unwelcome reminder of their slave past. Shortened to "konering" or "coonering," the words became synonymous with "low-class buffoonery."...

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From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Junkanoo
"Junkanoo is a street parade with music which occurs in many towns across The Bahamas every Boxing Day (December 26), New Year's Day and, more recently, in the summer on the island of Grand Bahama. The largest Junkanoo parade happens in Nassau, the capital. There are also Junkanoo parades in Miami in June and Key West in October, where the local black American populations have their roots in the Bahamas. In addition to being a culture dance for the Garifuna people,[1] [2] this type of dancing is also performed in Jamaica on Independence day and other historical holidays."
-snip-
http://mudcat.org/detail_pf.cfm?messages__Message_ID=1651185
The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #88125 Message #1651185
Posted By: Azizi
18-Jan-06 - 05:56 PM
Thread Name: Iko Iko http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=88125
Subject: RE: Iko Iko
"I'm not sure if anyone else has made a connection between the Mardi Gras Indians and the Jonkonnu {John Canoe} celebrations by 19th* century {and probably earlier} African Americans in the South. Both feature masking and promenading in the streets. Both seem to be a blend of West African, Caribbean, and English traditions.

See this description of the early Mardi Gras Indian costumes from the Grateful Dead page whose link was provided earlier: http://www3.clearlight.com/~acsa/introjs.htm?/~acsa/songfile/IKOIKO.HTM

Reg Johnsey came up with this explanation {for the reference to chicken wire in the song "Iko Iko":
"The way country people celebrated Carnivale/Mardis Gras was to make conical masks out of chicken wire and decorate them, wearing them with costumes festooned with strips of cloth. So, the references to fixing someone's chicken wire sounds like a joking threat to mess up their masks, since part of the battle was how good the costumes were."

And see this excerpt from this website:
Pulse Planet: Jonkonnu http://www.pulseplanet.com/dailyprogram/dailies.php?POP=3067..."
-snip-
*I wrote 18th century" but meant "19th century". However, I've read that the earliest date that Jonkanuu is documented in the Caribbean is 1774. That said, I think that it's unlikely that Jonkonoo customs occurred in the the United States until the 19th century.
-snip-
Also, visit this pancocojams post http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2012/02/jonkanoo-gombey-new-orleans-indians.html "Jonkanoo, Gombey, New Orleans Indians, & The Philadelphia Mummers Costume Traditions" and read this historical overview of Jonkanoo http://www.bahamasentertainers.com/Paper/jnkno.html

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PART III:
FEATURED JONKANOO VIDEOS
Example #1: One Family 2012 New Years Day Junkanoo 1



hugomanager, Uploaded on Jan 4, 2012
-snip-
"One Family" is the name of a Jonkanoo group in the Bahamas.

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Example #2: Saxons 2010 Boxing Day Junkanoo 14



hugomanager Uploaded on Dec 30, 2010
-snip-
"Saxons" is the name of a Jonkanoo group in the Bahamas.

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Example #3: Valley Boys 2011 New Years Junkanoo 1



hugomanager, Uploaded on Jan 3, 2011
-snip-
"Valley Boys" is the name of a Jonkanoo group in the Bahamas.

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Thanks to the editors of Mango Spice for the words to the song "Christmus A Come" and for information about Jonkanoo.

Thanks to all those who I quoted in this post and thanks to hugomanager for publishing the featured videos of contemporary Jonkanoo parade groups in the Bahamas.

Thanks for visiting pancoocjams.

Visitor comments are welcome.

Sally Brown & Sally Sue Brown - Sea Shanty, Ska, & Blues Part II

Edited by Azizi Powell

This psncocojams post is Part II focuses on "Sally Brown" Ska and Blues songs. Part II of this series showcases videos of & lyrics for songs about "Sally Brown" from the Ska, and Blues genres.

Part I focuses on "Sally Brown" sea shanties. Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2012/04/sally-brown-sally-sue-brown-sea-shanty.html for Part I. "Sally Brown" shanties are also given as "Shallow Brown" ("Shiloh" and "Challo").

Thanks to the known and unknown composers of "Sally Brown" songs. Thanks also to the singers, musicians, and the video producers, and video uploaders.

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PART II - SALLY BROWN & SALLY SUE BROWN

OVERVIEW OF SKA MUSIC
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ska:
"Ska... is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s, and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. Ska combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues. It is characterized by a walking bass line accented with rhythms on the upbeat. In the early 1960s, ska was the dominant music genre of Jamaica and was popular with British mods. Later it became popular with many skinheads."

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LYRICS [Ska]

SALLY BROWN
(Laurel Aitken)

She boogie, she boogie down the alley

Make me tell you about Sally Brown,
Sally Brown (x2)

Sally Brown is a girl in town
She don't mess around

Make me tell you about Sally Brown,
Sally Brown (x2)
Sally Brown is a girl in town (x2)
She don't mess around

Sally Brown is a slick chick
If you mess around with Sally
She hits you with ah coocoomaka stick
Ah coocoomaka stick
Ah coocoomaka stick (x4)
Hits you with ah coocoomaka stick
Ah coocoomaka stick
Coocoomaka stick (x4)
Hits you with ah coocoomaka stick

Make me tell you about Sally Brown,
Sally Brown (x2)

Make me tell you about Sally brown

sally brown is a girl in town
you don't mess around

Sally Brown is slick chick
If you mess around with Sally
She hits you with ah coocoomaka stick
Coocoomaka stick (x4)
Hits you with ah coocoomaka stick
Ah coocoomaka stick
Coocoomaka stick (x4)
Hits you with ah coocoomaka stick
Sally Brown, wickedest chick in town

Sally Brown (x2)
Sally, Sally, Sally
She boogie down the alley (x2)
What a Sally Brown (x2)

Make me tell you about Sally Brown,
Sally Brown (x2)

Sally Brown is ah girl in town
She don't mess around

Sally Brown is a slick chick
If you mess around with Sally,
She hits you with ah coocoomaka stick

Oh, and she hits you with ah boogie stick
Coocoomaka stick (x4)
Hits you with ah coocoomaka stick
Coocoomaka stick (x4)
Hits you with ah coocoomaka stick

Sally Brown
What ah gal in town
Sally Brown

Make me tell you about Sally Brown,
Sally Brown (x2)

Sally Brown is ah girl in town
She don't mess around
She don't mess around,
This chick is not ah boogie-yaga chick

Coocoomaka stick (x4)
Hits you with ah coocoomaka stick
Coocoomaka stick (x4)
Hits you with ah coocoomaka stick

She boogie, she boogie down the alley
What ah Sally Brown (x2)

Make me tell you about Sally Brown,
Sally Brown (x2)
Sally Brown is ah girl in town

Coocoomaka stick (x4)
Hits you with a coocoomaka stick
- Source: http://www.lyricsmania.com/sally_brown_lyrics_laurel_aitken.html with my revisions largely based on viewer comments from http://www.youtube.com/all_comments?v=SZk0HgG-TUU.

Corrections or additions are appreciated.

Editorial comments:
"She boogie down the alley" = "She dances down the alley (or street).
**
"Make me tell you" = "Let me tell you"
**
mess with = bother, make her angry
**
Here's the meaning of coocoomaka stick from http://www.youtube.com/all_comments?v=SZk0HgG-TUU:
"it is a club with prickles on it. did you watch the passion of the christ? use your imagination as to what it is. makka is the Jamaican (patois) word for prickle."
-ninjaguy3, 2010
**
chick = female
**
boogie stick = stick used to make music (to dance (boogie to), such as a dulcimer?, or a walking stick?
**
"This chick is not ah boogie-yaga chick" = She's not a girl to be played with (treated unfairly, treated ligthly, provoked, messed with.)
-snip-
With the exception of any racial references, the characterization of "Sally Brown" in the Ska song "Sally Brown" by Laurel Aitken is true to the traditional characterization of that woman in the 19th century Jamaican shanties with that title. [See Part I of this series for text examples.]

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"SALLY BROWN" [Ska Video]

Laurel Aitken - Sally Brown



Uploaded by OneSoundUk on Nov 10, 2010

"The godfather of ska performing despite illness in 2005 - taken from the dvd 'Laurel Aitken live at Club Ska 2005' - a fitting tribute to a proper legend"

-snip-
Instead of "she's a slick chick", in this version of that song, that line is "she's a sexy chick".

**
Click http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurel_Aitken for information about Laurel Aitken.

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BLUES SONG "SALLY SUE BROWN"
The Blues song "Sally Sue Brown" is another contemporary descendant of the 19th century shanty character "Sally Brown". "Sally Sue Brown" is composed by African American June [Junior] Alexander (Arthur Alexander) and recorded by him in 1960.

An Overview of Blues music
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blues:
"Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads. The blues form, ubiquitous in jazz, rhythm and blues, and rock and roll is characterized by specific chord progressions, of which the twelve-bar blues chord progression is the most common."

Click that link for more information about Blues music.

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INFORMATION ABOUT ARTHUR ALEXANDER
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Alexander:
"Arthur Alexander (May 10, 1940 – June 9, 1993) was an American country soul singer...

Alexander was born in Sheffield, Alabama. Working with Spar Music in Florence, Alabama, Alexander recorded his first single, "Sally Sue Brown", under the name of June Alexander (short for Junior), which was released in 1960 on Jud Phillips' Judd Records...

Alexander is the only songwriter whose songs have been covered by the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan (who recorded "Sally Sue Brown" on his 1988 LP Down in the Groove.) "Go Home Girl" was also recorded by Ry Cooder on his 1979 album, Bop Till You Drop".

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"SALLY SUE BROWN" LYRICS
([June] Arthur Alexander)

Look who's back in town
Ain't nobody but Sally Sue Brown
All you boys better run for cover
If you don't a-wanna be a hearted broken lover.

See her in that very tight skirt
Got what it takes
Just to make you hurt
Don't you see by those big bright eyes
Prefer to treat her nasty and low down lies.

Makes no difference where she's been
I'm go in south and doin' them things again
Bake in a hot tub, down the line
I'd rather see you ruin this a-heart of mine.

I'll go see them come down my way
Like a fool you're gonna hear me say:
"I'll lay at your bed Sally Sue Brown
Please let me love you, baby
Don't put me down".

Makes no difference where she's been
I'm go in south and doin' them things again
Bake in a hot tub, down the line
I'd rather see you ruin this a-heart of mine.

I'll go see them come down my way
Like a fool you're gonna hear me say:
"I'll lay at your bed Sally Sue Brown
Please let me love you, baby
Don't put me down.
From http://www.lyricstime.com/bob-dylan-sally-sue-brown-lyrics.html; as performed by Bod Dylan.

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"SALLY SUE BROWN" VIDEO
(June) Arthur Alexander / Sally Sue Brown



Sophisticated Savage, Uploaded on Feb 25, 2010

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RELATED LINK
http://cocojams.com/content/sea-shanties-chanteys-neglected-area-black-history
Sea Chanteys- A Neglected Area Of Black History

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TRIVIA INFORMATION
"Sally Brown" is the name of the comic character Charlie Brown's sister. Who knows...She might be an actual descendant of the 19th century shanty character or the 20th century Blues & Ska character "Sally Brown". :o)

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My thanks to the composers of these songs. Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post. Thanks also to the performers, and video uploaders of this song.

Thanks for visiting pancocojams.

Visitor comments are welcome.