Day 24:
Anthems:Protest and encouragement
Swing low, sweet
chariot
“Swing low, sweet chariot” is an African American
spiritual, which is thought to have been written by a former slave called
Wallis Willis. “Steal away to Jesus”
is also believed to be by him. He had become a Choctaw Freedman, one of a group
of ex-slaves who were granted citizenship after the American Civil war in the
Choctaw Nation, a Native American tribe.
Some
sources claim that this song, and Steal
Away, contain coded references to the underground railroad – the escape
route for slaves from the South to the North of the USA. Its Biblical
foundation, though, is in the story of the Old Testament prophet Elijah.
Instead of dying, according to the Bible, he was taken up to heaven in a fiery
chariot, a sign of God’s favour on him. ( 2 Kings 2.11)
African
American slaves endured such suffering that sometimes the only way to keep hope
alive was to remind themselves that this injustice was not eternal, and that
God saw them not as slaves but as his children, worthy of honour and respect.
They might not see justice this side of the grave, but it would come.
“Swing Low” has continued to give hope
and encouragement to people suffering injustice. It has also, rather bizarrely,
become the anthem of the England Rugby team, allegedly after a group of boys
from Douai school, sang it at a match in 1988 (probably not quite as reverently
as it was meant to be sung…)
Swing low, sweet chariot
Coming for to carry me home
Swing low, sweet chariot
Coming for to carry me home
I looked over Jordan, and what did I see?
(Coming for to carry me home)
I saw a band of angels coming after me
(Coming for to carry me home)
If you get there before I do
(Coming for to carry me home)
Tell all my friends, I'm coming too
(Coming for to carry me home)
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