The following material is adapted from material compiled by Jean Sturm in October of 1998, based on contributions from international subscribers to "choralist@lists.colorado.edu." Apparently he and a number of others discussed the nature and history of spirituals and how they differ from other types of gospel music.

Mudcat has permission to post the following material, edited together from the contributions received. (Other topic sections included in the original material are posted elsewhere.) It is offered as a starting point for your own comments. Links to past Mudcat discussions would be especially helpful. Eventually, the best of ALL of this material will be edited together, and posted to the African-American Spirituals Permathread.

Although you are welcome to post links to other sites' information about the subject, I am MOST interested in your own writing based on specific information you can cite. It will be much easier to incorporate YOUR work (because we can presume permission as long as it stays in Mudcat), as opposed to securing permission from multiple websites which, themselves, cite others from whom permission should be asked.

~Susan


SPIRITUALS AS CODES
According to Nina Gilbert (1994, GILBERTN@scholar.wabash.edu): "Last week I posted a question about codes in Spirituals texts. I had read that 'Follow the Drinkin' Gourd' was a secret 'map song,' suggesting that people could 'follow' the Big Dipper as they headed northward, and I wondered if other Choralist subscribers knew further examples.

"Here's what I've learned:

I. General:

Michael Shasberger (Butler University) made the general suggestion that texts about journeys and such can be imaginatively traced to the immediate idea of escape. Also, I've seen suggestions that the "Jordan River" and "heaven" were direct allegorical references to the Ohio River and Canada. References to trains and chariots can also mean the Underground Railroad, of course, although I don't know about more specific details.

II. Specific songs:

Mallorie Chernin (Amherst) and Joshua Golbert (Music Teacher, Woodward Parkway Elementary School, Franklin Square NY) both mentioned Jeanette Winter's book Follow the Drinking Gourd (Dragonfly Books/Alfred Knopf). Joshua quotes the book:

"The drinking gourd is the Big Dipper, which points to the North Star. 'When the sun comes back and the first quail calls' meant spring, when travel might be least hazardous. As the runaway slaves followed up north, they would come across marks Peg Leg Joe had made in the mud... and they would know they were on the right trail. The river that 'ends between two hills' was the Tombigbee River. The second was the Tennessee River and the 'great big river' was the Ohio River, where Peg Leg Joe would be waiting to ferry them to the free states". Joshua adds, "According to Winter, Peg Leg Joe was a white man who helped the slaves escape (left foot, peg foot, traveling on)." And Mallorie comments, "'Drinkin' gourd' we sing every Passover (freedom and all that)."

Joan Sampson (The State Literacy Resource Center, Central Michigan University) adds a possibility about another song: "I don't know if it is proven, but I have heard that 'Michael Row the Boat Ashore' is a specific reference to the New England
Abolitionist Movement of returning slaves to Africa (Liberia) in the mid-1800's. The reference to 'Sister' is the woman (I've forgotten her name) who was active in the movement. I have also heard that many of the references to dying and going to heaven are also code for freedom or the North."

Cliff Ganus recalls: "We sang, a number of years ago, George Lynn's arrangement of 'Little black train,' the refrain of which says, 'Set your house in order, for the train's gonna be here tonight.' The verses refer to the 15-year extension on life given to Hezekiah, and the arrival of the train ostensibly represents death (in case any of the slaveowners were listening)."

According to Negro Slave Songs in the United States, M. M. Fisher (Russell & Russell, 1968):

"The song 'Deep River' originated in Guilford County (NC), where it was the name of both a body of water and of a meeting house of Quakers. A conservative slave told his Quaker benefactor that he wanted to `cross over' to Africa, the home of camp meetings." (p41) [the reference given is a ms. at Guilford College]

" [a letter] published in the report of the American Colonisation Society...asked...`Do you not know that the land where you are is not your own? Your fathers were carried into that to increase strangers' treasure, but God has turned it all to good, that you may bring the gospel into your country.' He added that Negro ministers were not doing the will of God by remaining in the US." (p43)

" Proslavery people tried their hands at making `spirituals'...Strangely enough, this song called the Atlantic an `ocean'. Previously , that body of water had been likened to the Red Sea... the Jordan...but it was never an `ocean'." (p63)

(Not exactly watertight reasoning but plausible enough. Of course it would be nice to see the source material or at least more extensive quotes, particularly from the ms. above, titled "Minutes of the Manumission Society of Northern Carolina". )

I have a bit of general reading to catch up on. In the archives books by Southern, Roach, and Dixon were recommended. Epstein (Sinful tunes & Spirituals) and Ricks (Social Implications...) may be valuable also… The series titled `Studies in 18th cent. Afro-American Music' on LaBrew's "Black Musicians..."(1977) is intriguing as well.

Saundra Hall Hill says: "This following is in response to the question regarding the African American spiritual, 'Steal Away', the text of which is:

Steal away to Jesus.
I ain't got long to stay here.
My Lord calls me,
He calls me by the thunder;
The trumpet sounds
Within-a my soul.
I ain't got long to stay here.

"Although this song is sacred in nature, it can also be described as a dual-message spiritual (or signal song).

"On one level, it's heard as evidence of the slaves' resignation to be content by meditating and praying (stealing away) to Jesus, who would pacify them through their hard times. Also, on the surface, it expresses a realization that some slaves felt: there could be no earthly reward to justify their horrible plight, and that they hoped their prayers would hasten them to Heavenly peace.

"On the other hand, slaves who were discontented with their misery, and intent on doing something 'earthly' about it, used songs such as 'Steal Away' to transmit 'coded' messages to one another: 'steal' (run away), 'to Jesus' (the North U.S. or Canada, or some passage via the Underground Railroad or other venue that would eventually get the runaway to the North); 'thunder' and 'trumpet' -- some pre-designated physical symbol such as the ringing of a bell, a field holler, calling the hogs-- or whatever could be used in the midst of the unsuspecting slavemasters
or overseers."


Credits for this contribution are due to:

Credits for this contribution are due to:

*Jean Sturm (Strasbourg), Executive Director, Musica International ("The International Database of Choral Repertoire")

and

Jonathan Miller (Chicago), Peter Schleif (St Anthony, MN), David Griggs-Janower (Albany), Bob Griffith (Memphis), Saundra Hall Hill (Los Angeles), Craig Hawkins, Timothy Olsen (Schenectady), David W. McCormick (Richmond, VA), Allen H. Simon (Bay Area Lutheran Chorale), Richard Mix, and David Monk (CA).