The Virgin Mary had a baby boy

The Virgin Mary had a baby boy. West Indian carol.  This carol, sometimes called a spiritual, reflects one of the varied experiences and cultures encountered by enslaved Africans when they came to the Americas. Since it does not find its origins in the continental United States, ‘The Virgin Mary’ does not appear in the historical collections of African American spirituals* such as the monumental Slave Songs of the United States* (New York: 1867), the first extensive collection of African American spirituals. Rather, it is a product of the British colonization of parts of the Caribbean islands and the African diaspora throughout the Gulf of Mexico. The traditional designations for this hymn,...