responding and reflecting

"Windows suddenly had view. And wouldn't you know he'd be a singing man." (48) Paul D began to sing while working in the house. During the time in American history, slaves would often sing during there hard labor for multiple reasons. The slaves originally sang to boost moral of the other slaves, but later used there songs to send hidden codes. For example, one song, Follow the Drinking Gourd, "when the sun comes up and the first quail calls, follow the drinking gourd. for the old man is a-waiting to carry you to freedom, if you follow the drinking gourd." The song, when decoded, said to escape in winter and head north to Canada, which was slave-free, where they would find a guide. The guide being represented by the old man. there were two kinds of coded songs were signal and map songs. in a signal song, the singer or group of singers communicated in code about a certain event, like an escape. A map song, lyrics would contain elements of a map in order to direct slaves to the underground railroad in order to escape. An example of a map song would be Follow the Drinking Gourd. Since slaves couldn't read or write, songs were the perfect way to secretly pass information without being noticed. slave owners interpreted the songs on a literal level, while slaves understood the secret meanings behind the words. With the increasing use of the railroad, slaves had an easier time escaping, and could spread coded messages much farther. Originally, I believed that slaves only sang to boost moral. At the time, singing actually had more uses besides boosting moral. slave songs help the slaves survive both emotionally due to moral and often times physically through hidden messages, and all under the noses of the slave owners.