Learning Objectives 

Students will: 

• Discover the history and meaning of spirituals. 
• Analyze and decode spirituals.
• Apply call and response techniques and syncopated rhythms in a song.
• Describe secret words and phrases in a spiritual.
• Write an original spiritual that conveys a secret message. 

Standards Alignment

National Core Arts StandardsNational Core Arts Standards

Common Core State StandardsCommon Core State Standards

Recommended Student Materials

Editable Documents: Before sharing these resources with students, you must first save them to your Google account by opening them, and selecting “Make a copy” from the File menu. Check out Sharing Tips or Instructional Benefits when implementing Google Docs and Google Slides with students.

• Song Lyrics: “Do You Want To Be Free?
• Song Lyrics: “Wade in the Water”
• Codes and Phrases Used on Underground Railroad

Videos

• “Wade in the Water”
• African American Spirituals Video Cinema

Websites

• “Do You Want to Be Free?”
• African American Spirituals

Teacher Background

Teachers should review historical information about Harriet Tubman from the following resources: Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Visitor Center, Harriet Tubman Timeline, Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Byway, and National Parks Service: Harriet Tubman.

Student Prerequisites 

Students should know historical details about enslaved people, the Underground Railroad, and African American history.

Accessibility Notes

Modify handouts and provide assistive technologies for students. Allow extra time as needed for task completion.

Engage

1. Without any introduction, play the song “Do You Want to Be Free?” During the chorus, model for students how to sing the “response” portion. Gesture to the students to join you in singing this part of the song.

2. Introduce the song, “Do You Want to be Free” and give students a copy of the Song Lyrics: “Do You Want To Be Free?” Play the song again and have students sing along. Ask students: What are you hearing? (a song, a story about history using music, an African American spiritual, a children’s chorus) Who is this song about? (Harriet Tubman) Who is Harriet Tubman? (a leader in the Underground Railroad, she helped enslaved people escape the south and move north) From whose perspective is this song written? (Harriet Tubman’s) What format is used in the chorus? (call and response, sing and repeat, sing and echo) Who is performing the song? (an adult and children’s group)

Build

1. Introduce the history of African American spirituals to students. Ask students: Why did enslaved people sing songs? (to entertain themselves, for religious reasons, to communicate information, to pass the time, to make their work easier by moving to the beat, etc.) Explain to students that enslavers prohibited reading and writing. Since literacy was forbidden, enslaved people sang songs to remember things and to communicate information. Enslavers did not allow them to gather together to attend church, as they feared they might grow strong and revolt. Their songs often contained codes that enslaved people knew but enslavers did not.

2. Introduce the concept of codes in songs and communications. Ask students: What secret codes do you use that your parents or friends may not know? (lingo, jargon, text messaging abbreviations, etc.) Why do you use these codes? (it’s quicker, it can be secret, etc.) Why would enslaved people use codes to help them escape?

3. Watch the performance of “Wade in the Water.” Ask students: What did you hear? What do you think the song is about? What does “wade in the water” mean? Who is Moses? Who are “the children of the Israelites”? Why are some phrases repeated? (they are the primary message, they are the chorus’s “response”) 

4. After you listen to the performance once, give students a copy of the Song Lyrics: “Wade in the Water.” Listen a second time to “Wade in the Water.” Ask students to underline repeated phrases and words in the song.

5. Give students a copy of the worksheet Codes and Phrases Used on Underground Railroad. Working in groups, ask students to try to decode the song. They may be able to find key words or parts of phrases to help them. Share interpretations of the song with each other. (They should find words like “Jordan,” “friends,” “water.”)

6. Show students “Wade in the Water” one more time. Ask students to listen to the “beat.” As the teacher, snap your fingers to the beat (syncopated rhythm). When the chorus starts to clap at the end, clap along. Encourage the students to join you with the finger snapping and hand clapping.

7. Define syncopation for students. Syncopation is a shifting of accents and stress from what are normally strong beats to weak beats. It often means playing one rhythm against another in such a way that listeners want to move, nod heads, clap hands, or dance. It is often on the “off” or “up” beat. Explain that syncopation is common in African American spirituals. It often gives the spiritual a jazz feeling.

8. Listen to “Do You Want to Be Free?” one more time. Ask students to snap their fingers or clap their hands on the syncopated beats.

Apply

1. Write an original African American spiritual. Divide the class into pairs or small groups. Have each group select a topic that was important to an enslaved person from the Underground Railroad. For example, a song about about following the North Star, hiding from those who want to capture you, leaving your family behind, surviving winter weather, looking for the Promised Land or freedom, or wondering what your new life will be like. Consider whose voice we might be hearing (such as Tubman’s in the first song). Use code words and phrases to communicate a secret message. Write an original spiritual to a known tune (such as one of the spirituals heard in this lesson) or to an original tune with two or more verses and a chorus. Encourage students to use the call and response technique and syncopation. Have students share the lyrics of the song with their classmates.

2. Perform the original spirituals for the class. Have students demonstrate any clapping or snapping that will go along with the performance.

Reflect 

1. Assign each group a spiritual written by another group. Ask each group to decode the song. Ask students: What message did the group convey? What did you have to decode? Can a song have more than one interpretation? What did they do well? What emotions did you feel as you listened to the spirituals in this lesson (recorded and original)? How do you think enslaved people when they listened or sang spirituals?

Extend

1. Explore other African American spirituals. Share African American Spirituals from the Library of Congress or locate content from African American Spirituals. 

2. Look for code words and phrases in modern music. Select a popular or favorite song to decode. Have students share their findings. 

3. Write an original story that uses Underground Railroad code words or phrases. Have students read their stories to another class. 

4. Create a “new” language that uses a unique set of code words and phrases. Write dialogue between two people using the “new” language. 

African American Spirituals

“Do You Want to Be Free?”

Unity Performing Arts

Stephanie Woodson - “Wade in the Water”