STEP 2: Students will hear several selections from the two CD set Songs of the Lower Mississippi Delta.

The teacher will play selection #2 from disc #2 Run, Mary, Run. The selection can be referred to as a coded spiritual, meaning that it is a song that has an additional meaning beyond the religious meaning that seems to be most evident.

Lyrics are found at the end of this page and on separate page LYRICS.

Background on the selection, from liner notes by Matt Hampsey of the New Orleans Jazz National Historical Park:

Run, Mary, Run

Ted Gioia, in his book Delta Blues, writes that “black culture has always been rich in coded or buried meanings, inside jargon, double entendres, and other ways of communicating secretly while in full view.” “Run, Mary, Run” is an example of an African American spiritual that employs a Biblical reference while simultaneously suggesting other meanings inherent in the African American fight for freedom. The song urges one to keep going in the face of oppression, to overcome slavery through escape or other means. The lyrics to “Run, Mary, Run” remind the listener that no matter your circumstance (slavery, in this instance); the right of the tree of life is due to all.

Erica Falls (lead vocals); Bruce Barnes, Phillip Manuel (backup vocals)
Matt Hampsey (guitar), John Jones (drums), Donald Ramsey (bass)

After hearing the selection students should be given or shown a copy of the lyrics.

The following could be done through whole class discussion, in groups, or individually.

 

1.     Take the students through the following conversation, or have them chose or respond to one of more of the questions in written form.

·        If done as a whole class discussion, answers could be typed into a computer document (perhaps by a student to free the teacher to move about the room and facilitate discussion). The document could then be saved for later use, or to show students in other classes as a way to compare different answers by different classes.)

·        If done as small group discussion, groups could be assigned which would then report back to the class for a comparison of responses. (If groups are assigned randomly, the site http://www.random.org/lists/ will create groups for you when you type in a lists of names.)

 

DISCUSSION

Keep in mind the knowledge about and insights into slavery that you have gained by reading the slave narrative of Mary Reynolds.

 

1.     What does this song seem to be about?

Possible answers: Escape from slavery, human rights, religious conversion, eternal life.

 

2.     What might Mary be running from?

Possible Answers: slavery, master, dogs, the futility of earthly life, the Devil.

 

3.     According to the singer, what should Mary be seeking?

Answer: The Tree of Life

 

4.     What might this thing represent?

Possible Answers: Escape to freedom in the North, An end to the slave system, Heaven or Eternal Life.

 

5.     According to the singer, why should Mary be able to have this thing?

Answer: She has a right

 

6.     To whom else besides Mary does the song say this applies?

Possible answers: Children, People, Everybody, The Slaves, African Americans.

 

7.     How do you think many Masters would react were they to hear this song being sung by slaves?

Possible Answers: With anger and a desire to punish the slaves. Vices of the slaves. By requiring white ministers chosen by masters to conduct all services (a common practice in the ante-Bellum south).By banning religious services. They might not have understood the song and might have thought it was simply a religious song about heaven rather than a song about escape from slavery. With amusement at the idea that slaves have rights.

 

8.     In what way do the lyrics show an attempt to disguise the song as a religious song about gaining eternal life?

Possible answer: By using the term “Tree of Life” rather than “Freedom” or some other more obvious term.

 

9.     Whom do you think is singing the song or saying the words? In other words, who is bringing this message to the slaves?

Possible answers: A slave preacher, a family member, an abolitionist, an Underground Railroad operative such as Harriet Tubman or Levi Coffin.

 

10.                         What do you think could be the consequences to that person of bringing such a message to the slaves?

Possible answers, depending upon the answer to question #9: Arrest for inciting escape or slave rebellion, imprisonment, beating, sale away from farm and family.

 

11.                         What do the lyrics “Come to tell you…” suggest?

That the person delivering the message is an outsider, such as a newly arrived slave, a white operative of the Underground Railroad such as Coffin, an escaped slave operative of the URR such as Tubman.

 

12.                         What answer might a slave owner give to someone making the argument heard in the song, that the slaves have a right to this thing?

Possible Answers: That slaves have no rights. That making such an argument misleads slaves and makes them wish for something they are not suited for, such as freedom. That slaves will be suited to freedom only after a long term of care and preparation by masters. (This last argument was frequently made by more intellectually sophisticated masters who claimed that while slaves were human and so entitled to certain “inalienable rights”, their condition made it impossible for them to properly exercise those rights, and so freedom would actually be “harmful to their interests.” In this way some masters presented themselves to the North as properly caring for the interests of their slaves rather than oppressing them for economic gain.)

 

13.                         What document in American history makes the same argument as the one we hear in this song?

Answer: the Declaration of Independence, in the phrase “All men are created equal and are entitled to certain inalienable rights, and them being Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.”