This song in my "Promises broken, promises restored" moves to the "restored" part of the ledger with a name that every American should know: The abolitionist Frederick Douglass.
The tune aims to be like the spirituals which slaves sang to keep up their spirits and sometimes to hide expressions of their hope for freedom. (The river they wanted to cross was the Ohio, even if they sang about the Jordan.) I'm afraid my performance fails to convey the style. I'd love to record it with an a cappella chorus.
The North Star was the name of Douglass's abolitionist periodical.
Copyright 2022 Gary McGath.
The Power of Words
Refrain:
Nothing has power like words on a page.
They can tear down an empire or launch a new age.
They can shatter a falsehood and unlock a cage.
Such is the strength of the words on a page.
There was a law, slaves must not learn to read.
If they knew letters, then they might rebel.
But Frederick Douglass discovered the seed.
Just who had taught him, he would never tell.
Frederick taught others, in spite of the law.
If he'd been caught, his fate would have been grim.
Through written words, new horizons they saw,
Though through the darkness the light still was dim.
Refrain
When he got free, Frederick authored a book
Telling the world how he'd lived as a slave.
Those who had never seen whips had to look
At the vile punishments slaveholders gave.
Lighting the North Star, he put into text
Visions of worlds where all people were free.
"Truth is of no color, Right has no sex."
Words that would water the Liberty Tree.
Refrain
When war was raging, he wrote a reply
To those who asked, "If the slaves all go free,
What will we do with them?" He said, "You try
To do too much to us! Just let us be!"
Such was the force in the words from his pen,
Fighting injustice, defending the right,
That they brought freedom to women and men,
Showing the way under liberty's light.
Refrain
@janeg Feb 2022
We are still overrun with people of power who think their birth or money give them the right to decide what is good for others. Powerful message.
@cathymc Feb 2022
Great message about the power of words! The anthem-like melody works really well to convey the strength in this story.