Follow the Drinking Gourd
A continuation of the series, “Sacred Waters 2,” “Follow the Drinking Gourd,” illustrates the emotional landscape of resisting enslavement and risking life for freedom. The diptych portrays some processes by which African-Americans escaped bondage: astronomy, geography, and coded messages via song. The lower portion represents the darkest of night and the hardest of times, informing the moment to flee. The top half highlights the northward movement and the dawn’s first break, likened to the earliest days of freedom which were not without struggle. Follow the Drinking Gourd is a traditional spiritual turned folk song that informed the title of this piece. It can be listened to here:
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