Whitney Walker

Courtny Highley

Candace Coble

Taylor Madsen

Sarah Mirahmadi

•Negro spirituals are folk songs that originated among enslaved Africans in America

•Spirituals were inspired by the religious hymns of the white revivalists and also shaped memories from traditional African memories

•some songs were used to translate messages that their masters were unable to understand

1. Abolitionist= a person who demanded immediate emancipation of slaves

2. Drinking Gourd= Big Dipper and the North Star

3. Heaven or Promised land= Canada

•Most spirituals included references to people, places, or events in the bible.

•The black slaves expressed their hope that they would someday escape to their own ‘promise land’ just as the Israelites had escaped to ancient Israel

•In 1867 a collection of black music called Slave Song of the United States was published.

•1871 the Jubilee Singers from Fisk University, traveled throughout the United States and to England singing spirituals to raise money for their school

Chorus:Swing low, sweet chariot,

Comin' for to carry me home;Swing low, sweet chariot,

Comin' for to carry me home.I looked over Jordan,And WHAT did I see,

Comin' for to carry me home,A band of angels comin' after me,

Comin' for to carry me home.Repeat chorus:

If you get there before I do,Comin' for to carry me home,

Tell all my friends I'm comin' too,Comin' for to carry me home.

•Riding a chariot or train was the way used by fugitives running to a free country

•Swing low sweet chariot directly refers to the Underground Railroad

•Ripley was one of the stations of the underground railroad. This town was atop a hill, by Ohio River, Which is not easy to cross. To reach this place, fugitives had to wait for help coming from the hill. The words of these spirituals say, I looked over Jordan and what did I see/ Coming for to carry me home/ A band of Angels coming after me.

•Go down, Moses was a popular slave song and was usually sang during their times of rest and prayer

•It is also said to have been sung by abolitionists to signal escape or rebellion.

•The lyrics use biblical imagery expressing the desire for a release from bondage

•The opening lines tell Moses to go deep into Egypt, the land of the oppressors

•In the song Egypt symbolizes the “Slave States”

•Harriet Tubman signifies Moses because she went down South 19 times and led more than 300 black slaves to freedom