Spiritual. A spiritual is a folk song of deep religious and emotional character. Spirituals were developed among African Americans in the southern United States during slavery. The words are most often related to biblical passages and frequently reflect patient, profound melancholy, even though the songs seldom refer to slavery itself. Spirituals have influenced blues, jazz, and gospel songs. As you read the selection, determine how “Follow the Drinking Gourd” qualifies as a spiritual.
Repetition and Refrain. Repetition is a writer’s conscious reuse of a sound, word, phrase, sentence, or other element. A refrain, or chorus, is a line or group of lines repeated in a poem or song. Look for the use of repetition and refrain in this song.
Theme. A theme is a central idea in a literary work. As you read, decide what you think is the theme of “Follow the Drinking Gourd.”
Oral Tradition. An oral tradition is a work, an idea, or a custom that is passed by word of mouth from generation to generation. “Follow the Drinking Gourd” is part of the African-American oral tradition.
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“Follow the Drinking Gourd” is an African-American folk song that was part of the Underground Railroad and used to help fugitive slaves escape to safety. Many people traveled the routes or lines of the Underground Railroad. Although it was not an actual railroad, it used railroad terminology such as station for a stopping place and conductor for a person who helped the escaping slaves. Many members of the free African-American community, including escaped slave Harriet Tubman, worked diligently for the Underground Railroad. Harriet Tubman, in fact, was called “the Moses of her people” for the huge numbers of slaves she helped to reach the Promised Land, or freedom in the North.
The Underground Railroad extended throughout fourteen northern states from Maine to Nebraska with its heaviest activities concentrated in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, New York, and the New England states. It extended into Canada as well, where slaves were safe from fugitive slave hunters. Estimates of the number of fugitive slaves aided by the Underground Railroad range from forty thousand to one hundred thousand.
How far would you go to gain freedom?
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