2.  Division between North and South
◦ North: Commerce, education, banking, science, reform
◦ South: Plantations (cotton, sugar, rice, tobacco), slower-
paced, slavery
 Biggest division = Slavery
 First African slaves in U.S. = 1619
 Slave trade banned in 1808
 Slave rebellions = 1820s-1830s
◦ Southern states made laws taking away slaves’ rights

3.  South- depended on slaves for cheap labor on
plantations
 North- birth of abolition (protesting slavery)
 Fugitive Slave Act- 1850
◦ All citizens (in free and slave states) required to help
catch runaway slaves
◦ South supported, North opposed
◦ Underground Railroad = secret network of activists
helping fugitive slaves reach freedom
 Disagreements finally led to Civil War

4.  Folk songs of enslaved and oppressed African
Americans
 Social and religious content
◦ Freedom, protest, slave life
◦ Glory of God, getting to heaven, prayers
 Plantation owners encouraged singing to boost
morale
◦ Didn’t realize the power and double meaning of songs

5.  References to people, places, events of Bible
 Used these stories to represent their own
situation
◦ Moses leading Jews out of slavery in Egypt
 Code for escaping slavery
◦ “Follow the Drinking Gourd”
 Follow the Big Dipper north to freedom

6.  Refrain: a word, phrase, or group of lines
repeated at regular intervals
◦ Emphasizes the most important ideas
◦ Helps establish the rhythm of the song
 Call-and-response: a leader sings the verses
and the rest of the group sings the refrain
 Mood: the feeling created in a reader
◦ Spirituals mainly focus on pain & rage caused by
slavery conditions or hope for freedom & future

7. 1. What does the speaker desire?
2. What is the religious reference in the song?
3. Which phrase is the refrain?
4. What code/hidden messages might be in
this song? Think of what “sweet chariot” and
“band of angels” could refer to.
5. What is the mood of this spiritual?