Sweet Chariot and others Reflection

"Swing Low, Sweet Chariot", "Go Down, Moses", and "Keep Your Hand on the Plow" are old slave songs that were sung by the slaves when they were picking cotton in the fields. The slaves were waiting for their time to rise from slavery and become free men. The songs "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" and "Go Down, Moses" are all about the stories in the Bible of the slaves waiting for their time to be free. "When Israel was in Egypt's land, Let my people go; Oppressed so hard they could not stand, Let my people go" (347). This common part throughout the song is about the Israelites who were enslaved by the Egyptians and are forced to work for the Egyptians just like they were enslaved to the white man. Emerson and Thoreau were anti-slavery and wanted to free the slaves. "Thoreau and his family were committed to abolitionism and, along with the Amos Bronson Alcott family and Franklin Benjamin Sanborn, among others, assisted fugitive slaves through Concord" (Wayne). They did not want see slavery continue and felt that it was wrong. "Keep Your Hand on the Plow" was also the dream of freedom and the hope that God would one day set them free like he did for Paul and Silas. Paul and Silas were being held in jail wrongfully held and God set them free with an earthquake that broke the jail and allowed them to go free (348). The slaves were waiting for their chance to be free and make their own decision in their lives. Emerson and Thoreau were antigovernment and wanted the believe to live according to their own rules and morals. The African American slaves were wanting their chance to be free to live in the land of the free man. "Coming for to carry me home, BUt still my soul feels heavenly bound; Coming for to carry me home" (346). This line in "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" is talking about the free home in heaven waiting for them and that they will be free if not in their life in their afterlife.

"Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" Comp. Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Ph.D. and Douglas Fisher, Ph.D. Glencoe Literature. American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2009.346. Print.

"Go Down, Moses" Comp. Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Ph.D. and Douglas Fisher, Ph.D. Glencoe Literature. American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2009.347. Print.

"Keep Your Hand on the Plow" Comp. Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Ph.D. and Douglas Fisher, Ph.D. Glencoe Literature. American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2009.348. Print.

Wayne, Tiffany K., ed. "Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson." Critical Companion to Ralph Waldo Emerson: A Literary Reference to His Life and Work, Critical Companion. New York: Chelsea House Publishing, 2010. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc.