"Possessing a shared language, black folks could find again a way to make community, and a means to create the political solidarity necessary to resist. Needing the oppressor's language to speak with one another they nevertheless also reinvented, remade that language so that it would speak beyond the boundaries of conquest and domination."
http://www.traditionalmusic.co.uk/negro-spirituals/wade_in_the_water.htm (song lyrics)
This text is one of the many examples of a 'slave song' by Harriet Tubman. Her, and many other African slaves, used songs in their everyday life providing them with several purposes such as repetitive rhythm for repetitive manual work and motivation. Singing was used as a way to express values and as a tool to understand one another since the majority of slaves didn't have the ability to read. Often times the songs are referred to as spirituals, and slaves used them as a strategy to communicate with others in the search for freedom. The African slaves created their own coded language consisting of words that gave directions on how to escape or where to meet such as map songs.
"Wade in the Water" was created to tell the slaves to get into the water, which would avoid them of being seen and make it through. This song is an example of a map song in which the coded language is used as a way to give directions. Such texts make reference to Biblical people, places and stories to then compare them to their history of slavery. The text shows how the black community has the ability to transform a language so far away from it's original source that it becomes almost impossible to identify what is being said. Through this, we are able to see how standard English is used by slaves, whom are looked upon as non-educated, in a unique way to communicate. Since the slaves are the only ones who know how to decode what is being said, the songs create a niche language for the community. The African slaves have turned English into a language of their own, which implies that it is something more than an oppressor's language.
source: http://www.harriet-tubman.org/songs-of-the-underground-railroad/
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