The objective of this article is to bring to the field of post-abolition historical studies some reflections about the legacy of slave songs - or the "sounds of slavery" - in the United States and in Brazil. Rather than focus on the well-known differences between the two countries, the intention here is to call the attention of the reader to possible dialogues and contacts based around the disputes and meanings attached to this legacy. As well as the specialized bibliography on this issue, I concentrate on the assessments of two intellectuals at the end of the nineteenth century, who both had contact with the songs of the descendants of slaves in the Americas and who both reflected on the political meanings of those songs: Du Bois and Coelho Netto. Their assessments are part of a broader context of the internationalization of black music and the rise to prominence of black musicians in the post-abolition period.
slave songs; black music; post-emancipation; Brazil; United States of America