As this clip from “12 Years a Slave” shows, singing was an emotional outlet for slaves and a core part of uniting slave communities. In this clip, enslaved people sing “Roll, Jordan, Roll,” which was composed by two enslaved people of African descent owned by Choctaw masters.
https://twitter.com/choctawfreedmen/status/1345086137002557440
Singing would have been even more important on Choctaw plantations, as there was a good chance most slaves didn’t even speak the same languages. Many slaves didn’t speak English, and only spoke Choctaw—or in some cases, if they had been sold to Choctaw enslavers from an enslaver
from one of the other Five Slaveholding Tribes, they may have only spoke the Cherokee, Seminole, or Muscogee Creek language, not to mention Chickasaw. Further, records indicate that enslavers from the Five Slaveholding Tribes also purchased enslaved children from Mexico.
This could’ve further led to more linguistic diversity on Choctaw plantations, as those children may have spoken Spanish or Indigenous languages from Mexico.
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