FROM GUEST CURATOR MALCOLM J. MERRIWEATHER

The freedom song, The Drinking Gourd describes a critical journey traveled by many slaves in America. There are two categories of freedom songs: 1) songs associated with the Underground Railroad during the period when Black people were enslaved in the United States. 2) Songs promoting the ideals of racial and social equality during the civil rights movement beginning in the 1950s and continuing to the present day. Even though the aforementioned criteria are typically associated with freedom songs, any song promoting equality and freedom may be considered a freedom song. “The Drinking Gourd” encodes escape instructions via a musical map. The “drinking gourd” serves as a code name for the Big Dipper. “Left foot, Peg foot” refers to the wooden-legged Underground Railroad conductor. Directions in the song enabled fleeing slaves to make their way north from Mobile, Alabama, to the Ohio River toward freedom.

— Malcolm J. Merriweather, Music Director, The Dessoff Choirs