"Song of the Free" is a song of the Underground Railroad written circa 1860 about a man fleeing

slavery Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

by escaping to

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

via the

Underground Railroad The Underground Railroad was a network of clandestine routes and safe houses established in the United States during the early- to mid-19th century. It was used by enslaved African Americans primarily to escape into free states and Canada. T ...

. It has eight verses and is composed to the tune of "

Oh! Susanna "Oh! Susanna" is a minstrel song by Stephen Foster (1826–1864), first published in 1848. It is among the most popular American songs ever written. Members of the Western Writers of America chose it as one of the Top 100 Western songs of all tim ...

Lyrics

The song alludes to, and explicitly states, the lack of freedom experienced by

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

s, and of their servitude to ''masters'' who controlled them. It highlights the dangers they were willing to face in order to escape enslavement, including death. Every stanza ends with a reference to Canada as the land ''"where colored men are free"''. Although there had been

slavery in Canada Slavery in Canada includes both that practised by First Nations from earliest times and that under European colonization. Britain banned the institution of slavery in present-day Canada (and British colonies) in 1833, though the practice of sl ...

, an 1803 ruling by Chief Justice

William Osgoode William Osgoode (March 1754 – January 17, 1824) was the first Chief Justice of Upper Canada (now known as Ontario, Canada). Life and career He was born William Osgood in London, England, in 1754 to William Osgood (died 1767). His family wa ...

had set free many slaves, and the practice was completely abolished in 1834 with the passing of the

Slavery Abolition Act The Slavery Abolition Act 1833 (3 & 4 Will. IV c. 73) was an Act of Parliament, Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which provided for the gradual abolition of slavery in most parts of the British Empire. It was passed by Charles Grey, 2n ...

in the

British Parliament The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative supremacy ...

, which at the time still governed Upper and

Lower Canada The Province of Lower Canada (french: province du Bas-Canada) was a British colony on the lower Saint Lawrence River and the shores of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence (1791–1841). It covered the southern portion of the current Province of Quebec an ...

. This led to the development of the Underground Railroad. The song's first stanza: I'm on my way to Canada, That cold and dreary land, The dire effects of slavery I can no longer stand, My soul is vexed within me more To think that I'm a slave, I'm now resolved to strike the blow For freedom, or the grave. Oh, righteous father, wilt thou not pity me, And aid me on to Canada, where colored men are free.

References

{{Underground Railroad Works about the Underground Railroad Songs against racism and xenophobia 1860 songs Works about American slavery African-American spiritual songs

Lyrics

See also

References