Work Songs: Drinking Gourd and Teaching Slaves

work songs: The Underground Railroad began in the 1780s and peaked between 1840-60, helping escaped slaves reach safety in mostly slavery-free Canada, according to Rabble. Volunteers on both sides arranged safe houses and co-ordinated passage across the U.S.-Canada border. By the time the United Empire Loyalists British subjects who rejected the 1776 Revolution were settling in and founding family dynasties, another group started to arrive. Since Southern states had laws against teaching slaves to read or write -- or giving them shoes -- Blacks used work songs to spread instructions about how to travel north. The drinking gourd is the Big Dipper. For example, Follow the Drinking Gourd urges runaways to find and follow the North Star. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.