"Go Down Moses" is an African American
spiritual that describes the Hebrew
Exodus
Exodus or the Exodus may refer to:
Religion
* Book of Exodus, second book of the Hebrew Torah and the Christian Bible
* The Exodus, the biblical story of the migration of the ancient Israelites from Egypt into Canaan
Historical events
* Ex ...
, specifically drawing from the
Book of Exodus
The Book of Exodus (from ; ''Šəmōṯ'', 'Names'; ) is the second book of the Bible. It is the first part of the narrative of the Exodus, the origin myth of the Israelites, in which they leave slavery in Biblical Egypt through the strength of ...
5:1, in which God commands
Moses
In Abrahamic religions, Moses was the Hebrews, Hebrew prophet who led the Israelites out of slavery in the The Exodus, Exodus from ancient Egypt, Egypt. He is considered the most important Prophets in Judaism, prophet in Judaism and Samaritani ...
to demand the release of the
Israelites
Israelites were a Hebrew language, Hebrew-speaking ethnoreligious group, consisting of tribes that lived in Canaan during the Iron Age.
Modern scholarship describes the Israelites as emerging from indigenous Canaanites, Canaanite populations ...
from bondage in
Egypt
Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...
. "And the LORD spoke unto Moses, Go unto Pharaoh, and say unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Let my people go, that they may serve me".
As is common in spirituals, the song refers to freedom, both the freedom of the Israelites, and that of runaway enslaved people. As a result of those messages, it was outlawed by many enslavers.
The opening verse, as published by the Jubilee Singers in 1872:
Lyrically, the song refers to the liberation of the ancient Jewish people from Egyptian slavery. That story held a second meaning for enslaved African Americans, because they related their experiences under slavery to those of Moses and the Israelites who were enslaved by the pharaoh, and the idea that God would come to the aid of the persecuted resonated with them. "Go Down Moses" also makes reference to the Jordan River, commonly associated in spirituals with reaching freedom, because the act of running away often involved crossing one or more rivers.
Since the Old Testament recognizes the Nile Valley as further south, and thus, lower than Jerusalem and the Promised Land, heading to Egypt means going "down" while going away from Egypt is "up". In the context of
American slavery
The legal institution of human chattel slavery, comprising the enslavement primarily of Africans and African Americans, was prevalent in the United States of America from its founding in 1776 until 1865, predominantly in the South. Sl ...
, that ancient sense of "down" converged with the concept of "down the river" (the
Mississippi
Mississippi ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Alabama to the east, the Gulf of Mexico to the south, Louisiana to the s ...
), where enslaved people's conditions were notoriously worse. Later verses also draw parallels between the Israelites' freedom from slavery and humanity's freedom won by Christ.
"Oh! Let My People Go"
Although usually thought of as a spiritual, the earliest written record of the song was as a rallying anthem for the
Contrabands at
Fort Monroe
Fort Monroe is a former military installation in Hampton, Virginia, at Old Point Comfort, the southern tip of the Virginia Peninsula, United States. It is currently managed by partnership between the Fort Monroe Authority for the Commonwealth o ...
sometime before July 1862. White people who reported on the song presumed it was composed by them. It became the first spiritual known to be recorded in sheet music.
While the Reverend Lewis Lockwood, the chaplain of the Contrabands, was visiting Fortress Monroe in 1861, he heard runaway enslaved people singing the song, transcribed what he heard, and eventually published it in the ''National Anti-Slavery Standard''. Soon after, sheet music was published titled "Oh! Let My People Go: The Song of the Contrabands", arranged by
Horace Waters. Lockwood stated in the sheet music that the song was from Virginia, dating from about 1853.
However, the song was not included in ''Slave Songs of the United States'', despite its being a very prominent spiritual among enslaved people. Furthermore, the original version of the song sung by enslaved people almost definitely sounded very different from what Lockwood transcribed by ear, especially following an arrangement by a person who had never heard the song as it was originally sung. The opening verse, as recorded by Lockwood, is:
Sarah Bradford's authorized biography of
Harriet Tubman
Harriet Tubman (born Araminta Ross, – March 10, 1913) was an American abolitionist and social activist. After escaping slavery, Tubman made some 13 missions to rescue approximately 70 enslaved people, including her family and friends, us ...
, ''Scenes in the Life of Harriet Tubman'' (1869), quotes Tubman as saying she used "Go Down Moses" as one of two code songs used with fugitive enslaved people to communicate when fleeing Maryland. Tubman began her underground railroad work in 1850 and continued until the beginning of the
Civil War
A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...
, so it is possible Tubman's use of the song predates the origin claimed by Lockwood. Some people even hypothesize that she herself may have written the spiritual. Others claim that
Nat Turner
Nat Turner (October 2, 1800 – November 11, 1831) was an enslaved Black carpenter and preacher who led a four-day rebellion of both enslaved and free Black people in Southampton County, Virginia in August 1831.
Nat Turner's Rebellion res ...
, who led one of the most well-known slave revolts in history, either wrote or was the inspiration for the song.
Recordings
*The
Tuskegee Institute
Tuskegee University (Tuskegee or TU; formerly known as the Tuskegee Institute) is a Private university, private, Historically black colleges and universities, historically black land-grant university in Tuskegee, Alabama, United States. It was f ...
Singer
recorded the songfor Victor in 1914.
*
The Kelly Family
The Kelly Family is a European-American music group consisting of a multi-generational family, usually nine siblings who were joined occasionally on stage in their earlier years by their parents. They play a repertoire of rock, pop, and folk mus ...
recorded the song twice: live version is included on their album ''
Live
Live may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Films
* ''Live!'' (2007 film), 2007 American film
* ''Live'' (2014 film), a 2014 Japanese film
* ''Live'' (2023 film), a Malayalam-language film
*'' Live: Phát Trực Tiếp'', a Vietnamese-langua ...
'' (1988) and a studio version on ''
New World
The term "New World" is used to describe the majority of lands of Earth's Western Hemisphere, particularly the Americas, and sometimes Oceania."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: ...
'' (1990). The latter also features on their compilation album ''
The Very Best - Over 10 Years'' (1993).
* The
Golden Gate Quartet
The Golden Gate Quartet (a.k.a. The Golden Gate Jubilee Quartet) is an American vocal group. It was formed in 1934 and, with changes in membership, remains active.
Origins and early career
The group was founded as the Golden Gate Jubilee Sing ...
(Duration: 3:05; recorded in 1957 for their album ''Spirituals'').
*
Louis Armstrong
Louis Daniel Armstrong (August 4, 1901 – July 6, 1971), nicknamed "Satchmo", "Satch", and "Pops", was an American trumpeter and vocalist. He was among the most influential figures in jazz. His career spanned five decades and several era ...
recorded it for the 1958 album ''
Louis and the Good Book
''Louis and the Good Book'' is a 1958 jazz and spirituals album by Louis Armstrong.
Singles included "I'll String Along with You" / "On My Way (Out on My Traveling Shoes)" 1959, also known as I'm On My Way.Scott Allen Nollen ''Louis Armstrong: T ...
''.
* "Go Down Moses" was recorded by the
Robert Shaw Chorale
The Robert Shaw Chorale was a renowned professional choir founded in New York City in 1948 by Robert Shaw, a Californian who had been drafted out of college a decade earlier by Fred Waring to conduct his glee club in radio broadcasts.
History ...
on
RCA Victor
RCA Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside Columbia Records (its former longtime rival), Arista Records and Epic ...
33 record LM/LSC 2580, copyright 1964, first side, second band, lasting 4 minutes and 22 seconds. Liner notes by noted African-American author
Langston Hughes
James Mercer Langston Hughes (February 1, 1901 – May 22, 1967) was an American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist from Joplin, Missouri. An early innovator of jazz poetry, Hughes is best known as a leader of the Harl ...
.
[The album itself!]
See also
*
Christian child's prayer § Spirituals
*
Let My People Go (disambiguation) "Let My People Go" is a phrase that originates in the Book of Exodus 5:1:
Let My People Go may also refer to:
Film
*'' Let My People Go: The Story of Israel'', a 1965 film
* ''Let My People Go!'' (2011 film)
Music
*"Go Down Moses", traditional ...
References
Bibliography
*''The Continental Monthly''. Vol. II (July–December 1862). New York.
*Lockwood, L.C. "Oh! Let My People Go: The Song of the Contrabands". New York: Horace Waters (1862).
External links
Sweet Chariot: The Story of the Spirituals particularly thei
section on "Freedom"(Web site maintained b
The Spirituals Projectat the University of Denver)
*
{{authority control
Gospel songs
Paul Robeson songs
African-American spiritual songs
Cultural depictions of Moses
Year of song unknown
Songs with unknown songwriters
Songs about Egypt
Songs of the American Civil War