belle hooks

"For in the incorrect usage of words, in the incorrect placement of words, was a spirit of rebellion that claimed language as a site of resistance. Using English in a way that ruptured standard usage and meaning, so that white folks could often not understand black speech, made English into more than the oppressor’s language." belle hooks

             Harriet Tubman was an African-American abolitionist that was born into slavery. Tubman was one of the many slaves that escaped and after that went on missions to help rescue enslaved families. She did this through using a network of secret routes and safe houses, named the Underground Railway, that was established in the United States during the 1800s that allow African American slaves to escape into free states and neighbouring countries, with the help of abolitionists and allies. Secret messages in the form of quilt patterns aided slaves escaping the bonds of captivity in the Southern states before and during the American Civil War.

It was illegal for slaves to be literate. Therefore they lacked the ability to read or write. Thus allowing codes to become their means of communication, whether it was oral or drawn and sewn. They played a vital role in the slaves' lives as it was what lead them throughout their route to freedom. That is why these codes are often referred to as Underground Railroad Quilt Clothes. 'Quilt' relates to the fact that most of these codes were sewn into quilts that were used as undetected banners. But these codes came in forms of dance, spirituals, code words and even phrases in which were taught and memorised within the slave community; allowing themselves to communicate in a way that their white slave owners couldn't decipher. Secrecy was the only way that the blacks could protect themselves from the whites; becoming characteristic to their culture. Where even the youngest of children were taught to effectively keep secrets from any strangers or members of society that didn't come from their family to preserve their safety. 

A characteristic of the African-American culture was developed at this time, where communication of enigmas through the use of ordinary, everyday objects; the objects are seen so often they are no longer noticeable by the white Americans and slave masters. This characteristic transcended and subsequently became applied to slave songs, using code words the slaves were able to efficiently communicate indirectly with each other and aid each other to escape.

The primary text that I will be using is an underground railway slave song, “Follow the Drinking Gourd”, which abovementioned were songs sung by abolitionists to help inform each other through codes about their circumstances, or what to expect. This song insinuated the act of escaping in the springtime, as the days got longer, and the sun returned and contrasted with the winter weather “When the sun comes back “. The song then goes on to refer to quails, ”the first quail calls” which begin to call/mate each other at the beginning of spring. The drinking gourd, a water dipper that is stated in the song refers back to a code name for the Big Dipper, the constellation that pointed to the Pole star towards the North. “The Dead Trees show you the way” is a line in the song that refers to moss, as it grows n the north side of dead trees. Thus was used as an indicator for directions in case the Big Dipper was invisible.

These slave songs use of the black vernacular (which implemented AAVE on a larger scale in society)  allows us insight into how the placement of words, was used as a spirit of rebellion by the slaves in America in the 1800s that claimed language as a state of resistance. Using English in a way that ruptured the standard usage and meaning of the words; creating codes so that white people were left with a lack of understanding. Ultimately making English into more than the oppressor’s language. Instead, threading their own history and characteristics into it to rebel and protests for their rights.

“Follow the Drinking Gourd”

Follow the drinking gourd,

Follow the drinking gourd,

For the old man is waiting for to carry you to freedom

If you follow the drinking gourd

When the sun comes back and the first quail calls,

Follow the drinking gourd.

For the old man is waiting for to carry you to freedom

If you follow the drinking gourd

The riverbank will make a very good road.

The dead trees show you the way,

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.

Where the great big river meets the little river,

Follow the drinking gourd.

The old man is waiting for to carry you to freedom,

If you follow the drinking gourd.