"Follow the Drinking Gourd" was the refrain to a very important song. Not everyone recognized the true meaning of the refrain but those who did knew that they were going to get help and were one step closer to freedom. The Underground Railroad was abolitionists" secret aid to help escaping slaves. This system would give slaves a chance to a start a new life. Volunteers who helped them gave them somewhere to stay and something to eat. .
The plantation which the Prentiss family worked on was located in Mobile, Alabama. Mary was just eleven years old when she was already picking cotton six days a week. Her brother, Samuel, and her Mother were doing the same. Before this all happened, Mary's father had already escaped from the plantation which his family was working on a couple years back. One night, Mary heard singing coming from outside; she became suspicious and went to check it out for herself. As she got closer, the singing became clearer and finally she saw a man with a long beard. He was an agent for the Underground Railroad and his name was Peg-leg Joe. But all Mary knew was that he kept on singing "Follow the Drinking Gourd". When she got back to the place where her Mother was staying at, Mary told her about Peg-leg Joe and Mary told her what the old man was singing. Her Mother told her to be quiet and said "think not sing". .
Mary went back to Peg-leg Joe and he told her to follow the North Star and follow the Ohio River and there will be someone with a boat waiting for their arrival. When she turned around and looked back at Peg-leg Joe, he was gone. A night after this all happened, Samuel, Mother, and Mary were ready for their journey. Before the three of them followed the North Star, they stopped by another plantation. Mary got the slaves attention by playing the song of the quail. For a few moments, no one showed up, later, an old African American man brought a sack of food to Samuel and Mary.
"Follow the Drinking Gourd" was an example of a coded song that gives the route for an escape from Alabama and Mississippi. ... A portion of the song goes like this: The riverbank makes a very good road The dead trees show you the way Left foot, peg foot, traveling on Follow the drinking gourd There were several well known contributors to the Underground Railroad. ...
The conductors often left a number of signs for the slaves to follow so they didn't go to houses that belonged to allies of the slave owners. ... One such, was "Follow the Drinking Gourd". The drinking gourd was the slaves' terminology for the big dipper. ... The songs gave landmarks along the way to follow and a verse from it says " the dead trees will show you the way." ...
Has Gospel Music Gone to Far Changed? Being that the church is the cornerstone for gospel music, the songs adopted into hymnals sung by both choir and congregations passed from generation to generation. The change in gospel music has effected today's youth that have shown interest in the up be...
Preface Marriage and families founded through marriage constitute the basic cells of the society. It involves a multi-layer relationship between neighbors and other elements in the community, and it is so regarded by the Chinese as the top issue of the morality of human kind. Wedding ceremony is the ritual conducted when the couple decides to establish a marital relationship and through which they can win over the approval, recognition and protection of the community. The procedure of the wedding ceremony actually reflects the various social and cultural notions. The wedding customs in anci...
Through out history, historians have had the ability to pass on the knowledge of the past because of written documents and other forms of evidence that acknowledge the existence of past civilizations and cultures. When there are no written documents, whether lost or never created, it can be more dif...
Through out history, historians have had the ability to pass on the knowledge of the past because of written documents and other forms of evidence that acknowledge the existence of past civilizations and cultures. When there are no written documents, whether lost or never created, it can be more dif...
A famed cave painting in Valencia, Spain depicts two men climbing a ladder or series of knotted ropes up a tree with a baskets made of gourds to hold and collect honey combs. ... As different flowers blossomed, the beekeepers would move the bees to follow the patterns of the flora 3. ... It is a delightful alcoholic drink that has practically existed just as long as humans have, its creation dawning before the invention of the wheel, even. ...
My time periods start in the 1850's to the 1900. Every owner is different. One master may give their slaves rest period once in awhile, while others may work slaves to their limits. There were some slaves who were punished for little things and some were barely punished at all, but they all did g...
CUBAN SANTERIA Santeria, which literally means, way of the saints', originated in Cuba. Santeria is considered an Afro-Cuban religion. It has roots in Africa, specifically the Yoruba people in southwestern Nigeria. When Africans were brought to the New World as slaves, they brought with them their Yoruba religious traditions (Nunez: 3). Slave owners forced them to give up their beliefs and convert to Christianity. ...
