Hi everyone! During social studies, we learned about how music was used during the Transatlantic slave trade. We learned about how the trade worked and how the slaves live throughout the whole slave trade. Our main task was to learn how music was used to help slaves escape and to learn more about how slaves use spirituals to escape.
What are spirituals?
Spirituals gave slaves hope and help uplift their moods. They were also used to relay messages to other slaves.
Spirituals are songs that were made for religious use, they were used in the slaves' bush meetings which were basically their own version of church. They were also used in gatherings of slaves in "praise houses", in these meetings slaves would sing, chant and dance. They would help slaves, pass their time, they would also sing at funerals and if they were allowed, they would sing it at weddings.
Underground Railroad
Underground railroads were used by slaves to escape to other parts of America, they are secret passages used to sneak slaves out.
Harriet Tubman who was an ex-slave assisted over 200 slaves to the underground railroad then helped them escape. Here, spirituals were used to communicate with other slaves. An example of a spiritual is a song called 'Wade in the Water', this song had a special meaning because it would basically tell other slaves to wade in the water meaning to swim in the water. Slaves used water to get to other states too, this was a better choice because there would be fewer chances that they would be found.
Following the Drinking Gourd
When the Sun comes back
And the first quail calls
Follow the Drinking Gourd.
For the old man is a-waiting for to carry you to freedom
If you follow the Drinking Gourd.
The riverbank makes a very good road.
The dead trees will show you the way.
Left foot, peg foot, travelling on,
Follow the Drinking Gourd.
The river ends between two hills
Follow the Drinking Gourd.
There’s another river on the other side
Follow the Drinking Gourd.
When the great big river meets the little river
Follow the Drinking Gourd.
For the old man is a-waiting for to carry you to freedom
If you follow the drinking gourd.
This was a song sung to communicate with other slaves. It suggests escaping when the season is spring, where the days are longer. The drinking gourd is a water dipper which was a code name for the Big Dipper which points to the pole star towards the north. When they can't see the Big Dipper, dead trees will guide them there. This is because moss would normally grow on the north side of dead trees.
Present
Now, spirituals are well known all over the world, they are used as music for people to express their opinions through song. Nowadays, there are still many protests about African - Americans which affect many innocent lives.
Some events that are related to this are the Civil Rights Movement which started in 1954 and ended in 1968, the Black Power Movement which started in the 1960s and the Black Lives Matter, which started in 2013 and was recently brought up during 2020.
