Drinking Gourd Analysis

Escaped slaves during and before the Civil War often needed guidance on their trek throughout America to get to the far north, so they created folksongs that had subliminal messages to help others on their way. Follow The Drinking Gourd was a common folksong that informed the escapees to follow the end of the Big Dipper to reach Polaris, or the Northern Star. While the phrase, “drinking gourd,” is also referring to the hollowed out fruit slaves would drink from, it became an Underground Railroad icon that led many people to freedom.

As the song comes from a slavery ridden world, roughly the late 1800’s, the person who interpreted and wrote down the song uses an uneducated tone by cutting off words or using incorrect grammar. By using this diction he embodies the oral aspect of the lyrics, seeing as folksongs and tales are always passed down or taught orally. The original authors, being slaves that were still entrapped, used metaphors like the drinking gourd so that the slave owners would just shrug it off as nothing. The song is also heavy in imagery, “The river bed makes a mighty fine road, dead trees to show you the way…” Slaves would need to be given landmarks so they knew they were on the correct path as well as the constant of the Big Dipper.

The song itself radiates a hopeful aura,

while also giving direct instructions on how to cross the Ohio River. A man is mentioned, “The old man is a-waitin’ to carry you to freedom…” This man is a symbol of hope and prosperity, as well as the everlasting emotion of freedom and progress that the entire song emits. “I thought I heard the angels say / follow the drinking gourd / The stars in the heavens / gonna show you the way….” Captured slaves thought of the North as some sort of heaven, and perhaps the Railroad Workers as angels coming down to save them.
The Underground Railroad was a hidden passageway through America that assisted the African Americans to freedom.

The path went from multiple places in the South and eventually brought the slaves to cross the Ohio River, which is another huge symbol in the folksong. The Ohio River was the initial door into the North, and the slaves were determined to cross it. “The river between two hills / follow the drinking gourd / There’s another river on the other side / follow the drinking gourd…” The man aforementioned would be a Railroad worker who would transport the slaves from one side to the other. The river was an aggrandized landmark for all slaves who were looking to

escape.
The setting of the folksong is very vague and since it involves traveling, it is ever changing. “When the sun goes back / and the first quail calls…” Makes it evident that it is most likely early Spring, a good time for the slaves to begin their journey. They would want to river to be thawed,the weather to be warmer and that’s when the stars would be aligned correctly. The weather and setting is another symbol, creating an powerful message of new life and new beginnings.
The song is believed to be generally used in the 1700’s-1800’s, the time where Romanticism was slowly changing into Realism because of slavery and the Civil War. The lyrics radiate metaphors and imagery, as well as the aura of entrapment and the struggles of the Underground Railroad. It is usually matched with upbeat, gospel instrumentals, which eventually spawned soul music and jazz today. In the 80 years after the abolition of slavery the song played an important part of the revival of folk music and the Civil Rights movements of 1955-1968. It is still taught to the youth of today, as it is the only one of its kind that became so notorious. The Drinking Gourd is a fantastic embodiment of the willpower of humanity and the historical importance of slavery