Excerpts from a sermon, interspersed
with spirituals
By Raymond G. Manker, Minister
Unitarian Church of Phoenix
To understand the
Negro traditional
Spirituals it is
necessary to know something of the cultural millieu out of
which they arose.… It makes quite a difference when
we find that
the Negro slaves
thought of the future life as here on earth,
and heaven was not some other-worldly place but wherever
the Negro they
would be free from the bonds of slavery. When the
Negro
slaves sang of heaven they usually had in mind Liberia, and later,
when it became obvious that their masters were not going to free
them and send them to Liberia, heaven became situated to the north,
in the northern states or in Canada, to which, if they were lucky,
they might someday escape. Miles Mark Fisher, in his book,
Negro Slave Songs in the United States, flatly states,
"Negroes did not sing other-worldly songs like white people, or,
if they did, their meaning expressed frustrated this-worldly desires."
Frederick Douglass,
the famous Negro slave, who escaped
who famously escaped slavery
and who later was U.S. Minister to Haiti, in his autobiography,
mentions that the spirituals often had double meanings which escaped
the notice of the slave masters because the the religious terminology
used. At times the songs slaves sang were their means of spreading
word of a secret meeting, sometimes even a revolt. Of course the
slaves had to be careful that while the message got to those for
whom it was intended, that it did not get to the slave masters.
The spirituals, virtually without exception, tell of the slaves'
desire for freedom. The old slaves passionately desired freedom
and all through the centuries of slavery never lost hope of eventual
freedom.
Go Down, Moses will illustrate this point. This spiritual
was actually censored by the slave owners because it was so obvious
in its message. Originally sung about 1790, it expressed the Negroes
appreciation of Bishop Francis Asbury of the Methodist Episcopal
Church (Moses) who fought for an anti-slavery ruling for the ME
Church and who travelled through the south urging slave owners to
free their slaves. Later is was used to refer to Harriet Tubman,
an escaped slave, who ran the famous "Underground Railroad" which
brought so many slaves to freedom in the north.
"Ol' Pharoah", of course, was a common designation for "Ol' Massa".
This illustrated how kindly
the Negro
slaves felt toward their master—"Ol' Pharoah!"
WITH THIS IN MIND, LET US SING GO DOWN, MOSES.
Swing Low, Sweet Chariot, is a good example of slaves' desire reincarnation in Africa. "Chariot" was a French sled-like vehicle used to transport tobacco in the Carolinas, and "home", of course, was Africa. That a band of angels were coming illustrates the lack of an other-worldly concept of death.
SING SWING LOW, SWEET CHARIOT.
While the white settlers on the frontiers allowed their slaves
to attend church with them, and sometimes even allowed them to
have their own services in the church, the older Eastern areas usually
would not tolerate
the Negroes'
what they saw as excessive
emotionalism in church. And in many places would not even allow
the Negroes
people of color
to enter the church, except to clean it.
O Mary, Don't You Weep came out of a reaction to their exclusion
from church. God would punish the slave owners for
this—"Pharoah's army got drowned."
And their The
refusal to allow
them non-whites to use the church
encourages the slave to escape north to "heaven". One
verse states "When I get to Heaven" (that's up north), "Goin' to
sing and shout (just as they did in their praise meetings),
"nobody there for to turn me out". Another verse hings at a
possible rebellion, or hope for one, because of this exclusion.
"Some dark night, 'bout 12 o'clock, this old world's gonna
reel and rock!"
SING OH MARY, DON'T YOU WEEP.
Deep River originated in 1825 in Guilford County, North
Carolina, during the height of the efforts to get slave owners to
free their slaves and send them back to Africa. It is recorded in
the records of the Quaker Meeting there that a
Negro slave
told one of the Quakers working on the project, that he wanted to
"cross over" to Africa, the home of the Camp Meetings. "Deep
River", of course was the Atlantic Ocean which separated them
from "home".
SING DEEP RIVER.
I remember singing Steal Away at Youth Meetings ... many years
ago when were Many of us remember singing
Steal Away in church. We were all being exhorted
to "Steal Away to Jesus.".
How differently I look on this old spiritual now that I find
You may have a
different take on the hymn when you know
that its author was none other than Nat Turner, who led the great
slave rebellion of 1831.… Steal Away was Nat Turner's
call to rebellion.… it means to seal away "to freedom".
Turner felt that God had called him to lead this revolt: "My
Lord, he calls me..." "I hain''t got long to stay here" shows his
confidence that he would succeed. The meeting place
was "Jerusalem". The word Jerusalem was never used in a
Negro Spiritual prior to Nat Turner's revolt.…
Can't you just imagine the excitement and the superior
feeling—the feeling of putting something over on the slave
master for a
chance, change,
which these poor slaves must have felt when they sang within
hearing of the master, "Pharoah's army got drowned," or
"Steal Away ... I ain't got long to stay here"?
SING STEAL AWAY.
A jolly, joyful song, "I got shoes", which all like to hear and sing, also carries a delayed punch. "I got a show, you got a shoe, all God's chilluns got shoes." Negro slaves did not have shoes! Shoes were symbols of freedom! "All God's chillun got shoes." "When I get to heaven, I'm going to put on my shoes and tromp all over God's heaven." (When I am free in the the north I will have shoes.) Notice it said "when" I get to heave, not "if", but "when". They were going to be free!!!
SING I GOT SHOES.
Few of the spirituals are so open in their true meaning as in "Follow the Drinking Gourd". The drinking gourd was the dipper from which the slaves in the fields got their water. But the drinking gourd was also seen at night—the big dipper which pointed to the North Star. "Follow the drinking gourd." (Follow the North Star.) "For the Old Man is awaiting for to carry you to freedom, follow the drinking gourd." ... the verse was virtually a road map to freedom:
"When the sun comes back and first quail calls," (at dawn)
"Follow the drinking gourd." (go north)"Now the river bank'll make a might good road,
The dead trees will show you the way.
Left foot, peg foot, travelin' on,
Follow the drinkin' gourd.Now the river ends between two hills,
Follow the drinkin' gourd.
There's another river on the other side,
Follow the drinkin' gourd."
SING FOLLOW THE DRINKIN' GOURD.
The Spirituals, when seen in this light, become exciting, and the authors and those who sang them no longer are passive slaves, but proud men, eager for freedom, consistently hoping, planning to gain their freedom. And while they rightly feared their masters, their contempt for the masters shows through their songs.. No longer are the spirituals "mere spirituals". They are the record of the slaves' cry for freedom, of their consuming passion for freedom. They are a heritage which should stir the heart of every person who loves freedom.
Notes: Other music used in this service included: