Songs of the Underground Railroad
Adapted from the book
Listen to Learn: Using American Music to Teach Language Arts and Social Studies
QUESTIONS
Essential Question: How do oppressed people empower themselves to achieve freedom?
Guiding Question: How does change spread through a community?
STANDARDS
NCSS strand: Power, Authority, and Governance
Social studies programs should include experiences that provide for the study of how people create, interact with, and change structures of power, authority, and governance.
MMSD standard: Political Science and Citizenship
Performance Standard 1: Describe the struggle in our society for equal rights for all people
MATERIALS
- Follow the Drinking Gourd book
- Follow the Drinking Gourd video
- Follow the Drinking Gourd song lyrics (see below)
Read Aloud - Follow the Drinking Gourd
- Summary: Runaway slaves journey north along the Underground Railroad by following the directions in a song, “The Drinking Gourd”, taught to them by an old sailor named Peg Leg Joe, who travels among plantations teaching enslaved people a song that will assist them to freedom in Canada.
- Invite students to the carpet for a read aloud.
- Explain that this book tells the story of runaway slaves who use a song to travel safely through the Underground Railroad
- As they are listening, ask students to consider: How does change spread through a community?
- Invite students to share their initial impressions
- Explain that this book tells the story of runaway slaves who use a song to travel safely through the Underground Railroad
- Explain that “Follow the Drinking Gourd” is a signal song that helped transport slaves to freedom.
- Signal songs were used to give secret clues and send messages that describe the plans how to escape to freedom.
- Signal songs offered a way to communicate when and where people would meet along the Underground Railroad, or the route to get to a meeting place
- Instruct students that they are going to learn the song in a call-and-response style.
- Play the song on the video once through entirely. Let students hear what the song sounds like.
- Sing the first line, or play it on the video, and gesture for students to repeat it. Sing with the students so that they may be guided by the teacher's voice.
- Sing or play the next line and repeat the call-and-response pattern until the whole song is sung line by line
- Pass out a copy of the song lyrics to “Follow the Drinking Gourd” and explain that the students will look for metaphors in the song to investigate its meaning
- Instruct students to write the metaphor directly beneath each line of the song, so that their interpretation may be easily read
- Invite students to share their metaphor interpretations with the classmates
- Invite students to reflect on how the song was a tool that facilitated change to spread among the Underground Railroad community
ASSESSMENTS
Observe students' ability to recognize that:
- Peg Leg Joe passed the song along from each plantation
- Metaphors are literary tools that encode secret information
- Music is a memorable resource for individuals needing to transfer secret information
- Listen and participate in the song learning
Tibbett, T. (2004). Listen to learn: Using American music to teach language arts and social studies. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Winter, J. (1988). Follow the drinking gourd. New York: Knopf.
Winter, J (Writer), & Killen, R (Producer). (1990). Follow the drinking gourd (Motion picture). Highstown, N.J.: McGraw-Hill Media.
Follow the Drinking Gourd Lyrics
When the sun goes back
And the first quail calls
Follow the drinking gourd
The old man is waiting
For to carry you to freedom
Follow the drinking gourd
Follow the drinking gourd
Follow the drinking gourd
For the old man is waiting
For to carry you to freedom
Follow the drinking gourd
Riverbed makes a mighty fine road
The dead trees will show you the way
And it's left foot, peg foot traveling on
Follow the drinking gourd
The river ends between two hills
Follow the drinking gourd
There's another river on the other side
Follow the drinking gourd
Follow the drinking gourd
Follow the drinking gourd
For the old man is waiting
For to carry you to freedom
Follow the drinking gourd
I thought I heard the angels say
“Follow the drinking gourd
The stars in the Heavens'
Gonna show you the way
Follow the drinking gourd”
Follow the drinking gourd
Follow the drinking gourd
For the old man is waiting
For to carry you to freedom
Follow the drinking gourd
And the first quail calls
Follow the drinking gourd
The old man is waiting
For to carry you to freedom
Follow the drinking gourd
Follow the drinking gourd
Follow the drinking gourd
For the old man is waiting
For to carry you to freedom
Follow the drinking gourd
Riverbed makes a mighty fine road
The dead trees will show you the way
And it's left foot, peg foot traveling on
Follow the drinking gourd
The river ends between two hills
Follow the drinking gourd
There's another river on the other side
Follow the drinking gourd
Follow the drinking gourd
Follow the drinking gourd
For the old man is waiting
For to carry you to freedom
Follow the drinking gourd
I thought I heard the angels say
“Follow the drinking gourd
The stars in the Heavens'
Gonna show you the way
Follow the drinking gourd”
Follow the drinking gourd
Follow the drinking gourd
For the old man is waiting
For to carry you to freedom
Follow the drinking gourd