February/March 2010 By Ruth Randall SWC correspondent for multi-cultural, multi-racial issues There are those who would argue that former enslaved people have no history when quite the opposite is true. People of African descent that were held in bondage in this country have a rich history. One aspect of that history is the manner in which they used their inner strength and ingenuity to survive the daily cruelties they endured. One of the sources of their inner strength was music in the form of songs they created. Several of those songs, which came to be known as Negro Spirituals, can be found in The New Century Hymnal that is used in many UCC churches. Negro Spirituals were created by people who were deprived of their languages, families and cultures. The one thing their “masters” could not take away from them was their music. In time, the enslaved adopted Christianity, the religion of the people who held them in bondage. Spirituals are Christian songs that tell how to live with the spirit of God. Those songs were a reflection of the enslaved people’s new religion and an ingenious method of covertly communicating with one another. Slave holding states implemented laws making it illegal for slaves to learn to read and write. Slave owners feared that slaves who could read were capable of revolting and those who could write would be able to forge passes that would enable them to successfully escape from the “masters” plantation or farm. Undeterred by their lack of literacy, slaves memorized Biblical stories they heard and transformed them into songs. Spirituals were often sung to convey secret messages. The song “Swing Low Sweet Chariot” is believed to be a direct reference to the Ripley Underground Railroad Station in Ohio. Ripley, Ohio, which has a reputation for its strong beliefs in the abolition of slavery, sits on the top of a hill in the southwest part of the state by the Ohio River. It is believed that the reference to looking over the River Jordon is code for looking over the Mississippi or Ohio Rivers. “A band of Angels” is thought to be code for Underground workers. And “Comin’ for to carry me home”, is believed to be code for “coming to take me to freedom in the North or in Canada.” “Swing Low Sweet Chariot” was a favorite song of Harriet Tubman a woman who escaped slavery and is known for her successes in aiding the escape of an estimated 300 slaves from bondage in Maryland. Singing the song “The Gospel Train’s A Comin”, code for Underground Railroad, alerted other slaves that some were preparing to escape. The singing of “slave songs” was a part of everyday life, and slave owners and overseers were unaware of their hidden meanings. According to the historical note following hymn number 369 in The New Century Hymnal, “Keep Your Lamps Trimmed and Burning”, that “spiritual is possibly one of the code songs in which to keep one’s lamp ‘trimmed and burning’ could have meant keeping a lookout for a conductor of the underground railroad, such as Harriet Tubman.” This glimpse into the meanings of Negro Spirituals is but a tiny fraction of the very rich history of people of African descent in the U.S. Perhaps, getting to know and understand that history would help close the divide that separates the races.
Read more about African American spirituals, the songs and their history at www.Negrospirituals.com Read more about the hidden meanings in the song “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” and listen to the song performed by the Indiana University of Pennsylvania Wind Ensemble at www.Manhattanbeachmusic.com/html/swing_low.html
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