Why does Douglass think the songs that slaves sing on their way to the Great House Farm "would do more to impress some minds with the horrible character of slavery, than the reading of whole volumes of philosophy on the subject could do?"

Is this one of the songs?

http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/s/w/swinglow.htm

What is the song about? What did the slaves seem to want more than anything?

How does this compare?
http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=pU44AAAAMAAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA9&dq=anti+slavery+in+the+us&ots=2Csw4wR9zC&sig=0oCfVUpv9Qkgh97vwVUaO65b-vk#v=onepage&q=anti%20slavery%20in%20the%20us&f=false

The songs were incredibly sad, recalling the horrors of slavery. The only happiness many slaves yearn for is death and Heaven. Read this for more information.

http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/narrative/section2.rhtml

thanks

You're welcome.

Frederick Douglass, a prominent 19th-century abolitionist and former slave, believed that the songs that slaves sing on their way to the Great House Farm had a profound impact on people's understanding of the horrors of slavery. He felt that these songs had a unique power to convey the true nature of slavery in a way that even volumes of philosophy or written texts could not.

Douglass argued that these songs had a deep emotional resonance that penetrated the hearts and minds of those who heard them. The songs expressed the pain, suffering, and dehumanization endured by slaves, and by hearing them, listeners could empathize with the slaves and gain a deeper understanding of the degrading and oppressive conditions they lived in.

Unlike written texts, which can sometimes be sterile and detached, songs have a way of touching people on an emotional level. Douglass believed that the emotional impact of these songs was far more powerful than any written description or intellectual argument. By hearing these songs, people would be confronted with the vivid reality of slavery, and it would serve as a more direct and visceral means of communicating the true horrors of the institution.

In essence, Douglass believed that the songs of the slaves, with their emotional power, could connect people to the experiences of the enslaved in a way that no intellectual argument alone could achieve. By evoking empathy and understanding, these songs had the potential to deeply impact and transform the perceptions of those who heard them, making them realize the inhumanity of slavery more effectively than reading volumes of philosophy on the subject.