Perhaps the picture of the childlike slave is also a reverse image of the sober, patronizing white master whose life was rooted in austerity.

To such a man spontaneity and exuberance might well have seemed infantile.
The life of a slave did not give him much opportunity to create artifacts which could later be catalogued as evidence of African influence.
However, he did create a unique music.

While Negro spirituals were not imported directly from Africa, they were more than an attempt to copy the master's music.

They represent highly complex fusion of African and European music, of African and European religion, and of African and European emotion.

Blues and jazz, which emerged at a later date, represent a similar creative tension.