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
•1871 the Jubilee Singers from
•In 1867 a collection of black
Fisk University, traveled
music called Slave Song of the
throughout the United States
United States was published.
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