Essay --

Martin Luther King Jr once said in a Birmingham jail that â€Å"freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed†. For hundreds of years slavery was a must have in different parts of the world including Spain, Portugal, England, Netherlands, parts of South America, America and even the mother country Africa. Who would’ve imagined after more than 250 years of slavery, after all the violence between whites and blacks, after all the bloodshed for American dream, freedom would come in a form of a song not just any song, Negro spiritual songs sung by African Americans living in the South. Crazy huh! Many African Americans escaped the wrath of the white oppression in the south and moved up north for a better chance at life and to continue the heritage of your ancestors. Yes, you’re a runaway slave too, but instead of running away from distress, you’re learning the techniques of overcoming it as your ancestors did when whi te power was the superior denomination in America in the 19th Century. During the 1900’s slaves were plotting their escape to the north, blacks were tired of being injustice people in the United States. They wanted to be free, but there was one problem in achieving that challenge, whenever they tried to escape the south, they always found themselves walking back to their master’s plantation because they were thinking about the approaching consequence they would receive if they were caught escaping to the North. During the 1900’s the only way a black slave could ever head north, was for business reasons for their master, they would deliver supplies or letters to other slave masters in the upper southern region of the United States and return back to their plantations. Many African Ame... ...te slave masters, and Moses represented God coming down and delivering them from bondage. Go down Moses Way down in Egypt land Tell ole Pharaoh To let my people go When Israel was in Egypt land Let my people go Oppressed so hard the could not stand Let my people go â€Å"Thus spoke the Lord†, bold Moses said â€Å"If not, I’ll smite your first born dead Let my people go Another famous Negro Spiritual song used by the African Americans was â€Å"follow the drinking gourd†. The drinking gourd represents a star that helped slaves escaping at night, determine which way is north or if you were heading in the right direction to freedom. There were others ways to determine if you we’re heading north or not. The North Star was the second option for slaves heading north at night. The North Star never moved, it stayed in the same spot in the sky which made finding north a little easier.