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While at Spotsylvania this past Saturday, a ranger announced the evening program at Chatam Manor across from Fredericksburg. Jim Thomas, who has studied Afro-American spirtual songs was lecturing and singing that night. He started by describing the rules that blacks couldn’t congregate or engage in conversation. Can’t let them conspire and plot a rebellion you understand. He then told us of the songs that outwardly appeared to be religious themes but were actually coded messages that were understood by those in the know. For instance, “Jordan”was “Africa” and “home” could be “Canada.” “Waters” was “Atlantic Ocean.” Harriet Tubbman became “Moses” first and when detected, “Chariot.” Conducters on the Underground Railroad were “Angels.” The song, Swing Low, Sweet Chariot, was an advisement that an Tubbman was around and that you could escape with her. “Sinners” or informants were warned that they would be punished for betraying escape plans or a conductor.
Anyhow, Thomas mentioned that two years before the minstrel show from which Dixie was introduced to the nation, Snowden, who claimed to have been co-wrote it with Daniel Emmet, was entertained by his neighbors who were escaped slaves. Spirtuals masked the irony and "I wish I were in Dixie" meant that "I want out of Dixie!"
If Fredericksburg National Battlefied Park ever has that program again, attend it.
...and likely nothing more than that. Did this ranger give any documentation to support his tale? I suspect he wove it out of whole cloth. What's to stop anyone from saying that anything means / meant anything?
"Harriet Tubman is around and you can escape with her." Indeed! One night she's hiding behind a rock in Tennessee, the next night in that tree stump over there yonder in Georgia!
In all fairness, Capt., the statement was, "an Tubbman" (probably "a Tubbman") meaning that an agent like Tubbman was in the area to assist. The drain caused by such organizations as the Underground Railroad was, in an overall sense, annoying at best (although I wouldn't say that in the presence of a master that had just lost some).
The presentation is somewhat believable to me in that I have read other accounts that claimed development of a "secret" communication among slaves. (I'd assume that the coded language was not the same in South Carolina as it was in, say Mississippi or Tennessee.) And it was fascinating to hear it applied to spirituals and those old familiar words.
Being human, slaves quickly adapted to their surroundings by avoiding work as much as possible -- doing only enough to avoid punishment. Their owners, not being stupid, knew what they were doing. A quiet battle took place between the slaves and their owners throughout the slaveowning community, but it was and still is a quiet battle between workers and management. In that environment, a secret language develops by which slaves can largely avoid detection -- nevermind conspiring to escape.
Ole
__________________ I never knew a man who wished to be himself a slave. Consider if you know any good thing that no man desires for himself. A. Lincoln
I think Jim Thomas, who sounds very credible to me, was trying to say that the slaves had to use metaphors in their singing, to express their true sentiments, rather than using words with more explicit meanings. So instead of being rescued by Harriet Tubman, or a Tubman-like figure, they sang of a chariot, which in their minds meant Harriet Tubman, or someone like her who would "swing low", pick them up, and carry them far away from their misery. ("comin' for to carry me home") The overseers only heard "chariot" and most likely thought nothing of it. The slaves could still express themselves through the metaphors, with limited fear of being punished for expressing dissatisfaction with their lot in the South. (If you've never heard that song sung by an African baritone, you're missing something.) Thanks for the interesting post, Gary.
TW
__________________ "In this great struggle, this form of Government and every form of human right is endangered if our enemies succeed. There is more involved in this contest than is realized by every one." Abraham Lincoln - August 18, 1864 Speech to the 164th Ohio Regiment
Being human, slaves quickly adapted to their surroundings by avoiding work as much as possible -- doing only enough to avoid punishment. Their owners, not being stupid, knew what they were doing. A quiet battle took place between the slaves and their owners throughout the slaveowning community, but it was and still is a quiet battle between workers and management. In that environment, a secret language develops by which slaves can largely avoid detection -- nevermind conspiring to escape.
Ole
Sounds familiar in the contemporary context.
__________________ -
"It was a very peculiar time." - Franklin D. Cossitt
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Sorry, but Jim Thomas did not offer documentation. I was more interested in meeting one of the Rangers with whom I had been exchanging emails with for a few years than meeting Mr. Thomas personally (yep, I wouldn't pass up on hearing him again and meeting him this time).
You might want to write him via Fredericksburg National Battlefield Park. I don't think he's a Ranger, but they should have his contact information.
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The Song Dixie had slave roots 
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