Hi, thanks to everyone for reviving this thread. I am combining posts from the two different threads here for comment. I have been researching a cultural history of the song for about half a year now. Whether the song is "authentic" or not doesn't affect this cultural history, though as you might imagine, I would love to be able to answer the authenticity question.

>No other record or fragment of the song has been found, although 77 years have passed since publication.

Lee Hays claims to have heard the song from his Aunty Laura when a young boy.

>No record of any such underground railroad conductor has been found

True enough, although there were three major national anti-slavery societies and many hundreds of local societies at the time he would have been active.

>My personal belief is that Parks concocted the story, partly from an old spiritual, and abetted by wishful thinking, and perhaps a desire to put one over on J. Frank Dobie, at that time editor for the Texas Folk-Lore Society

Based on what I've learned about Parks (including discussions with former associates, correspondence and phone calls with his granddaughter) this would have been out of character. (Of course, that doesn't mean it's impossible!) I think he would have been loathe to jeopardize his relationship w/ Dobie, which was very important to him. Plus, he was working in a university setting, and had he been found out, it likely would have been the end of his academic career.

Incidentally, I can't find any trace of the supposed old spiritual, "Follow the Risen Lord."

>Others have questioned the story, but I must emphasize that the above remarks are solely mine.

I'd only note that in the folklore field, improbability does not necessarily mean falsification. But yes, FTDG is an improbable story.

>...since the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 applied in ALL states; if found anywhere, the slave by law was returned to his owners.

Abolitionists and the UGRR didn't care what the Slave Act said, they still assisted runaways.

Again, my thanks for the interesting contributions.

Best,

Joel