HARRIET TUBMAN USED SONGS TO LEAD HER PEOPLE OUT OF BONDAGE

Harriet Tubman, the "Moses" of her people.

The Underground Railroad, was a vast network of people who helped fugitive American slaves escape to the North and into Canada. It was not run by any single organization or person. Rather, it consisted of many individuals -- some whites but predominently black -- who knew only of the local efforts to aid fugitives and not of the overall operation. Still, it effectively moved hundreds of slaves northward each year -- according to one estimate, the southern states lost 100,000 slaves between 1810 and 1850.

For me, there is nothing like good old spiritual songs. Invariably they tell stories that fascinate me, more often than not for their inspirational value and historical significance.

The story that follows is one in particular that has grabbed my attention.

In her book "Hidden in Plain View...A secret story of quilts and the underground railroad", Jacqueline L. Tobin talks about Harriet Tubman who was an Underground Railroad Conductor, nurse, spy and scout. Harriet is characterized by her strong faith, courage, tenacity, wit, ingenuity and generosity. She was also fond of spirituals, some of which she composed and actually sang herself. 

As author Tobin explains it, she sang loudly as she walked past the dwellings of her friends and relatives on the night before she ran away from slavery for the first time. "Nothing inhibited her, not even encouraging the plantation owner as she headed for the gate. To throw him off, Tubman sang all the louder."

Tubman at one time told how the master looked back at her, puzzled by what he heard.  He must have been suspicious, and with good reason. Tubman was gone by morning. Her farewell song reads:

"I'm sorry I'm gwuin to lebe you.
Farewell, oh farewell;
But I'll meet youy in the mornin',
Farewell, oh farewell.

"I'll meet you in the morning',
I'm boun' for de promised land, 
On the oder side of Jordan, 
Boun' for de promised land..."

Indeed, Tubman was bound for the promised land. Once there, she worked diligently in order to make return visits to bring others out of bondage. That was her mission. She became the Moses of her people, leading hundreds to freedom.

On her journeys, Tubman used songs to indicate when it was safe for the fugitives to move from place to place. She also warned her charges of encroaching danger through the use of song.  In her own words, she explained how the system worked.  She said that she instructed her "passengers" to hide in the woods during the day while she went to the home of a friend of the Underground Railway (as she called it) to buy needed provisions. She could not return to her charges until nightfall, lest she be discovered and lead slave catchers back to the hiding place.

The song she would sing as an all-clear was one she composed herself. It was sung to a simple Methodist melody, the first stanza going like this...

"Hail, oh hail ye happy spirits,
Death no more shall make you fear,
No grief nor sorrow, pain nor anger (anguish)
Shll no more distress you there..."

Tubman disclosed the way she used her song saying: "De first time I go by singin dis hymn, dey don't come out to me...til I listen if de coast is clar; den when I go back and sing it again, dey come out. But if I sing:

'Moses go down in Egypt,
Tell ole Pharo' let my people go,
Hadn't ben for Adam' fall,
Shouldn't bab to died at all.'
...den dey don't come out, for ders danger in de way."

What a chilling experience it must have been for all as they waited, exhausted, hungry and in a constant state of anxiety, hoping to hear the lengthy spiritual sung twice," Tobin commented in her book.

According to sources, the spiritual that Tubman enjoyed the most was "Swing Low Sweet Chariot", in fact it was sung by her friends in tribute to her on the evening of her death, March 10, 1913.

The words from :"Swing Low..." draw from Old Testament accounts of Elijah and Ezekiel in which the chariot figures prominently. Just as it did for Elijah, the blazing chariot waited for Tubman and for all champions of God and the oppressed. The biblical chariot takes the just to glory. 

In the spirituals, the chariot symbolizes a means of transportation, a wagon, or a conductor of the Underground Railroad. Of the many spirituals in which the chariot motif appears this is the most well loved and frequently sung:

Swing low, sweet chariot,
Coming for to carry me home
Swing low, sweet chariot,
Coming for to carry me home

I looked over Jordan, and I what did I see
Coming for to carry me home?
A band of angels coming after me
Coming for to carry me home

If you get there before I do
Coming for to carry me home
Tell all my friends I coming too
Coming for to carry me home

I'm sometimes up, I'm sometimes down
Coming for to carry me home
But still my soul feels heavenly bound
Coming for to carry me home.

The chariot variously "swings low" to pick up and carry the slaves home, to ride the singers up "over Jordan." It brings peace, rest, and release from the secular world. It is the good news that the chariot is coming for to carry us home...and that includes you and me my friend!