{"id":3217,"date":"2018-03-20T09:24:49","date_gmt":"2018-03-20T14:24:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/?p=3217"},"modified":"2018-03-20T09:26:12","modified_gmt":"2018-03-20T14:26:12","slug":"let-my-people-go-moses-in-african-american-spirituals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/2018\/03\/20\/let-my-people-go-moses-in-african-american-spirituals\/","title":{"rendered":"Let My People Go: Moses in African American Spirituals"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The traditional lyrics and melody. Burleigh, H.T. “Go Down, Moses (Let My People Go!),” in Negro Spirituals<\/em> (New York: G. Ricordi, 1917),https:\/\/library.duke.edu\/dig italcollections\/hasm_n0708\/.<\/p><\/div>\n

After relentless, long and hard days working in the fields, enslaved black people had little in forms of comfort. Singing spirituals was one way for enslaved people to come together, to sing about their hardships, to praise God, and to lift their spirits. Although some scholars, such as George Pullen Jackson,1<\/sup><\/a> have argued that spirituals stem directly from white Protestant music, spiritual songs centered on Moses and the Israelites\u2019 escape from Egyptian slavery, such as \u201cGo Down, Moses\u201d, highlight how the slave experience distinctly shaped African American spirituals.<\/p>\n

In the numerous songs featuring the biblical character of Moses, \u201cGo Down, Moses\u201d is the most popular. This as well as other Moses songs directly reflects enslaved people\u2019s longing for freedom. For many enslaved people, Moses was representative of the brave \u201cconductors\u201d of the Underground Railroad, such as Harriet Tubman, that guided enslaved people to freedom.2<\/sup><\/a> The lyrics of \u201cGo Down Moses\u201d indicating that Moses, someone who did not have as much power as the Pharaoh, could defy him and demand \u201cto let [his] people go!\u201d was incredibly powerful for enslaved people who dreamed of defying their master. In many ways it became a way of defying their master even if they did not run away.3<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

Although this version of \u201cGo Down Moses\u201d remains the most popular, other versions also highlight connections between the African-American slaves and the Israelites. In John Davis\u2019s version of \u201cGo Down, Moses\u201d, he reveals that the chariot symbolizes the Underground Railroad and the \u201crivers rolling\u201d as the rivers that runaway slaves would cross though to lose their scent.4<\/sup><\/a> Although the lyrics are different, the message remains the same: a dream and a reflection on the fight for freedom.<\/p>\n