Atually, I'm more interested in finding examples of coded messages that were used in African American secular slave songs.

I recall reading somewhere a recollection of a woman who was enslaved of how the passed along the message about a social get together after a full day of work. Some 'pass word' was used, but I can't find that passage. Yet.

However, here is an example of a coded term being used in a secular song:

OLD BILL THE ROLLING PIN

Bessie Jones, Bess Lomax Hawes,"Step It Down" {University of Georgia Press, 1972, p. 208}

Now, Old Bill the Rolling Pin this morning.
Now, Old Bill the Rolling Pin this morning.
Now, Old Bill the Rolling Pin,
He's up the road and back again.
Big eyes and double chin this morning.

I geed to the mule but the mule wouldn't gee this morning.
I geed to the mule but the mule wouldn't gee this morning.
I geed to the mule but the mule wouldn't gee.
I knocked him side the head with thes singletree this morning.

Now Old Bill, etc.

I hawed the mule but the mule wouldn't haw this morning.
I hawed the mule but the mule wouldn't haw this morning.
I hawed the mule but the mule wouldn't haw,
He wouldn't do nothing but the pssum-la this morning.

Now Old Bill, etc.

Mister Frog went swimming down the lake this morning.
Mister Frog went swimming down the lake this morning.
Mister Frog went swimming down the lake.
But he got swallowed by a big black snake this morning.

Now Old Bill, etc.

[sung to the chorus melody]
Mrs. Duck went swimming down the lake this morning.
Mrs. Duck went swimming down the lake this morning.
Mrs. Duck went swimming down the lake.
But she got struck by a big black snake.
Poor thing, her neck got breaked this morning.

Note from book:
"When the mule wouldn't do nothing but the possum-la, that means he'd back around and cut up and like that-like he was dancing...*

Mrs Jones say that Old Bill was a "patterroller" and that people made this song up to make fun of him. During slavery, when Negroes were not allowed to leave their home plantation without a pass, "patterollers" were armed guards, hired to patrol the roads at night, enforcing the pass system. This particular 'patteroller' had "big eyes and a double chin", apparently reminding the singers of Mister Frog {the same one who went a-courting and who got "struck by a big black snake"}. The mule,who dances instead of working,is not as extraneous as he may seem either."

-snip-

* According to Bessie Jones, the 'possum-la' was performed "almost like the 'Kneebone Bend'...The Possum-La dancer shuffles and 'cuts up' causually or perhaps skips around a circle until the world 'possum-la' when he gives a slight jump, or 'chug' to one side, landing with his knees deeply bent." (p. 127}

And to echo Bess Lomax Hawes' words, it seems to me that the big black snake that struck Mister Frog and Mrs Duck are also "not as extraneous as he may seem either".

****   
The patteroller may be familiar to some from the song
"Run N----Run"** .

Here's another pet peeve of mine. In most music books and that I include this song, perhaps as a means of avoiding the use of that politically incorrect referent, that song is bleached of all its context and presented as a cute little children's song. IMO, this song was NEVER cute. I believe that during slavery it was sung not only to poke fun at the patrolers, but also to reinforce the lesson for African American children that if they saw a patroller they'd better run away as fast as they could.

** Since I'm one of many African Americans who can't STAND the
'N word', regardless of who uses it, Black, White, or Green, I refer to this song as "Run, Black Man, Run". At least that way I retain the context of the song.

But that's just me. To each his {or her} own.


Azizi Powell