|
“We've
Come This Far By Faith:
A Spiritual Journey Through Black History”
Series: Black History Month
Presenter: Dr. Andrew Stephens
Target Audience: Students
in grades 5 -12
LEARNING
OBJECTIVES:
Students will learn:
1)
the role faith has played in
African American history and culture
2)
to examine Harriet Tubman's use
of spirituals in her work for the Underground Railroad
3)
to explore the
continuing power of faith and spirituals in the Civil Rights Movement and as a
shared American heritage
4)
to investigate with oral tradition,
biography, and songs as types of historical evidence
Program
Description:
"We've Come This Far By Faith: A Spiritual
Journey Through Black History” is a videoconference about
faith and spiritual traditions in the African American community.
Since the arrival of Africans in the
Americas
,
religious institutions and spiritual traditions have been at the heart of
African American civic, social, and cultural life. Free and enslaved Africans brought their own
religious and spiritual traditions with them, and adopted, adapted, and
transformed Christianity.
In the early
19th century, African American slaves were denied the opportunity to practice traditional African
religions for more than a generation and many adopted Christianity. For the most
part, slaves were prohibited from forming their own congregations, for fear that they would plot rebellion if allowed to meet on their own. However, slaves throughout the South
organized what has been called an "invisible institution" by meeting
secretly, often at night, to worship together. It was at these meetings that
preachers developed the rhythmic, engaging style and that worshippers developed
the spirituals, mixing African performance traditions with hymns from the white
churches.
The "call
and response" pattern in singing was typically performed in worship
traditions in
West Africa
. This is a pattern
of alternation between the voice of an individual and the voice of the
congregation through which individual sorrows, hopes, and joys are shared by the
community. Through these spirituals, slaves were able to create a religious
refuge from their dehumanizing condition, affirming their humanity as
individuals and their support for one another through an act of communal
worship.
These spirituals
also reflect the influence of slavery in their emphasis on traditional
Christian themes of salvation but they had a double meaning. The worshippers
sing of their journey toward spiritual freedom through faith, but the song also
expresses their hope for physical freedom through God's grace. These two levels
of meaning are especially clear in the many spirituals that recount God's
deliverance of his chosen people in the Old Testament, in whom African American
slaves saw a reflection of their own suffering.
PRE-ACTIVITIES:
1) Have students listen
to a spiritual in class. The most widely
known spiritual is “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot". Have students notice the song's
call-and-response pattern and reflect on the experience of emerging from the
group in the solo lines (in italic) and then feeling the group affirm this
individual "testimony" with its response.
Swing Low, Sweet
Chariot
Swing low, sweet chariot,
Coming for to carry me home.
Swing low, sweet chariot,
Coming for to carry me home.
I looked over
Jordan
,
and what did I see,
Coming for to carry me home?
A band of angels coming after me,
Coming for to carry me home.
Swing low, sweet chariot,
Coming for to carry me home.
Swing low, sweet chariot,
Coming for to carry me home.
If you get there
before I do,
Coming for to carry me home,
Tell all my friends I'm coming too,
Coming for to carry me home.
Swing low, sweet chariot,
Coming for to carry me home.
Swing low, sweet chariot,
Coming for to carry me home.
2) To what extent is this spiritual a song about
escaping the physical conditions of slavery? To what extent is it an expression
of religious hope and faith? Have students speculate on how singing spirituals together
impacted African Americans living in slavery.
Lesson Activities:
Part I:
1) Help students examine the role that faith played
for fugitive slaves, who sometimes used spirituals as a secret code. This is
best illustrated in the life of Harriet Tubman as recounted in Harriet, the Moses of Her People, a
19th-century biography based on interviews with this most famous conductor on
the Underground Railroad.
Have students
read the account of Harriet's own escape from slavery where she uses a
spiritual to let her fellow slaves know about her secret plans:
When dat ar ole chariot comes,
I'm gwine to lebe you,
I'm boun' for
de promised land,
Frien's, I'm gwine to lebe you.
I'm
sorry, frien's, to lebe you,
Farewell ! oh,
farewell!
But I'll meet you in de mornin',
Farewell! oh,
farewell!
I'll
meet you in de mornin',
When you reach de promised land;
On de oder side
of Jordan,
For I'm boun'
for de promised land.
2) What kind of leave-taking is this song about
when it is performed as part of religious worship? What is the figurative or
secret coded meaning Harriet communicates to her friends through the song? What
is the relationship between these two levels of meaning? How is Harriet's
escape like a passing away from the viewpoint of those she will leave behind?
How does the song serve to create a bond that will connect her to her friends
even after she is gone?
3)
Discuss with students that Harriet draws on the community-building power of the
spiritual to add religious and social significance to her departure. Her song
reaffirms her place in the slave community, even as she declares her intention
to leave it, and at the same time expresses the double faith in salvation that
will sustain her on her way.
4) In a later time when Harriet is guiding
other slaves to freedom, she uses a spiritual to reassure them that they have
eluded a pack of slave hunters:
Up
and down the road she passes to see if the coast is clear, and then to make
them certain that it is their leader who is coming, she breaks out into the
plaintive strains of the song, forbidden to her people at the South, but which
she and her followers delight to sing together:
Oh
go down, Moses,
Way down into
Egypt
's land,
Tell old Pharaoh,
Let my people go.
Oh
Pharaoh said he would go cross,
Let my people go,
And don't get lost in de wilderness,
Let my people go.
Oh
go down, Moses,
Way down into
Egypt
's land,
Tell old Pharaoh,
Let my people go.
You
may hinder me here, but you can't up dere,
Let my people go,
He sits in de Hebben and answers prayer,
Let my people go!
Oh
go down, Moses,
Way down into
Egypt
's land,
Tell old Pharaoh,
Let my people go.
5) Ask students explain the literal and
figurative levels of meaning in this song. How does this
spiritual fits the circumstances of a narrow escape from slave hunters?
To what extent is it a signal and celebration of their escape? To what extent a prayer of thanks for their escape? Discuss
with students that the spiritual infuses a religious significance into the
situation and serves to reaffirm the group's strength as a community.
PART
II:
1)
The role of faith and spirituals not only in worship but also in the struggle
for freedom was a tradition that continued in the Civil Rights Movement of the
1950s and 1960s. Ask students to look at
the conclusion of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s, "I Have A Dream"
speech:
So
let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of
New Hampshire
. Let freedom ring from the
mighty mountains of
New York
.
Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of
Pennsylvania
. Let freedom ring from the
snow-capped Rockies of
Colorado
.
Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of
California
. But not only
that -- let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of
Georgia
. Let freedom ring
from
Lookout
Mountain
of
Tennessee
.
Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of
Mississippi
-- from every mountainside!
When
we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet,
from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of
God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and
Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro
spiritual, "Free at last, free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at
last!"
2)
Ask students to explain how Martin Luther King, Jr. uses the call-and-response
cadences of the spiritual to build his speech. Have them comment also on the
figurative meaning behind his literal listing of mountaintops in the
United States
.
Have them note finally how he uses the community-building power of the
spiritual to rally support for the Civil Rights Movement. Who are members of
the community that will respond to his call? What binds them into a community?
Shared experiences? Shared beliefs? Explore the role that religion plays in
this closing part of the speech. Is there a religious significance to the
communal song Martin Luther King, Jr. envisions? Does he impart a religious
dimension to the 1963 March on
Washington
that was the occasion for his speech? What is the faith he proclaims here to
members of diverse religious denominations as a faith they all share?
The church not only provided spiritual strength
and guidance, but also focused on issues of social and human justice. The
familiar scenes of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., other ministers, and civil
rights activists leading marches to end segregation and racial injustice are a
permanent part of the American historical memory.
This videoconference is about the church as an
agent of community and economic development. It is about education and
entrepreneurship and ways to combat hunger and homelessness. This
videoconference looks at churches and congregations at work “outside the walls”
of their sanctuaries. . . . . on the streets, in
prisons, and in schools.
This videoconference is about people, about
African Americans searching for ways to bring deeper meaning to life while
addressing the range of issues which affect them, their families,
neighborhoods, and communities. It is an examination and an exploration
of the ways in which individual belief shapes and changes African American
history and culture.
While the videoconference focuses primarily on
Christian churches and congregations, it also acknowledges the variety of
religious traditions which are historically part of the African American
experience including African based-religions. “Church" and "congregation" are
used interchangeably to mean persons gathered together for worship, spiritual
growth, and community support.
This videoconference
introduces students to the role that faith and spirituals have played in
African American history and religion. A discussion of the role of faith in
black history begins with a review of factors that contributed to the
development of this faith. . . .reflections of the
influence of African religious traditions, Christian traditions, and the
conditions of slavery.
Reading the 19th-century
biography of Harriet Tubman shows how she used spirituals as a secret signal to
fugitive slaves on the Underground Railroad. Against this background, students should
reconsider the impact of the line from "an old Negro spiritual" with
which Martin Luther King, Jr., ended his famous "I Have A Dream" speech and the influence of spirituals on his speaking style. This
videoconference will investigate how deeply the African American religious
tradition has woven itself into American culture, and is reflected in the
heritage of the
United
States
.
EXTENSION of the
LESSON:
During
the decade following the Civil War, spirituals entered the musical mainstream
through the concert tours of the Fisk Jubilee Singers and gave rise to the
choral genre known today as gospel, through the work of composers P. P. Bliss
and Ira D. Sankey.
Ask
students to research the Fisk Jubilee Singers and P. P. Bliss and Ira D. Sankey and some of their compositions.
POST-ACTIVITIES:
Conclude
this lesson by asking students to collect spirituals and other shared songs of
heritage by interviewing family members, friends, and acquaintances in their
own community. Some people they talk to may know many songs; some may know only
a few scattered verses. If possible, have students record the songs they
collect on audiocassette and transcribe the words to create a class booklet,
noting for each text where, when, and from whom they collected it, as well as
any reminiscences or facts about the song that their source provides. What
ethnic groups and religious denominations are represented in your collection?
How diverse are the circumstances in which people learned these songs? How
pervasive has the spiritual become in American society, and what do spirituals
mean to Americans today?
NATIONAL STANDARDS to
which this program aligns:
1)
ACTFL-2.1
Demonstrate an understanding of the relationship between the practices and
perspectives of the culture studied
2)
ACTFL-4.2
Demonstrate understanding of the concept of culture through comparisons of the
cultures studied and one's own
3)
NAES-Music 1
Singing, alone and with others, a varied repertoire of music
4)
NAES-Music 6
Listening to, analyzing, and describing music
5)
NAES-Music 8
Understanding relationships between music, the other arts, and disciplines
outside the arts
6)
NAES-Music 9
Understanding music in relation to history and culture
7)
NCSS-1
Culture and cultural diversity
8)
NCSS-2
Time, continuity, and change. The ways human beings view themselves in and over
time.
9)
NCSS-3
People, places, and environments.
10)
NCSS-4
Individual development and identity.
11)
NCSS-5
Individuals, groups, and institutions.
12)
NCSS-9
Global connections and interdependence.
13)
NCTE/IRA-11
Students participate as knowledgeable, reflective, creative, and critical
members of a variety of literacy communities.
14)
NCTE/IRA-2
Students read a wide range of literature from many periods in many genres to
build an understanding of the many dimensions (e.g., philosophical, ethical,
aesthetic) of human experience.
15)
NCTE/IRA
Students adjust their use of spoken, written, and visual language (e.g.,
conventions, style, vocabulary) to communicate effectively with a variety of
audiences and for different purposes.
16)
NCTE/IRA -6
Students apply knowledge of language structure, language conventions (e.g.,
spelling and punctuation), media techniques, figurative language, and genre to
create, critique, and discuss print and nonprint texts.
17)
NCTE/IRA-7
Students conduct research on issues and interests by generating ideas and
questions, and by posing problems. They gather, evaluate, and synthesize data
from a variety of sources (e.g., print and nonprint texts, artifacts, people) to communicate their discoveries in ways that suit
their purpose and audience.
18)
NCTE/IRA-8
Students use a variety of technological and information resources (e.g.,
libraries, databases, computer networks, video) to gather and synthesize
information and to create and communicate knowledge.
19)
NCTE/IRA-9
Students develop an understanding of and respect for diversity in language use,
patterns, and dialects across cultures, ethnic groups, geographic regions, and
social roles.
20)
NGS -10
The
Characteristics, Distribution, and Complexity of Earth’s Cultural
Mosaics
21)
NGS-17
How to Apply Geography to Interpret the Past
22)
NGS-9
The Characteristics, Distribution, and Migration of Human Population on Earth’s
Surface
Website Questions/Comments
Contact Virtual School Webmaster, Mike Majett
Email: mike.majett@Vanderbilt.edu
Phone: (615) 343-1018 IP:129.59.139.23
|Back to top|
|
