Peter Seeger version of The Drinking Gourd
Things lead to things lead to things on the internet. I really don't need to tell you this, do I? I was reading about some of the "lost" CBC Massey Lectures from the 1960's and discovered that one of the speakers in that series was the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. who delivered his lecture four months before his assassination.
Follow the Drinking Gourd -- children's book by Jeanette Winter
Dr. King refers to Canada as the "north star" for Negroes (his term) escaping slavery along the legendary Underground Railroad. He mentions a song called The Drinking Gourd, which is another name for the Big Dipper. It turns out that this song and the stars above provided instructions to slaves making their way northward. He also says that the word "heaven" in spirituals was often code for Canada.
I had never heard about this but I was moved by the new awareness that slaves seeking freedom made their way to "heaven" following this constellation which may be the only one many of us can identify.
Thank God that things lead to things, lead to things...
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