This article is about the song. For the book by William Faulkner, see Go Down, Moses (book).
"Go Down, Moses"
Fisk Jubilee Singers (earliest attested)
Song
Genre
Negro spiritual
Songwriter(s)
Traditional
Go Down Moses
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"Go Down Moses" is an African American spiritual that describes the Hebrew exodus, specifically drawing from the Book of Exodus 5:1:[1] "And the LORD spoke unto Moses, Go unto Pharaoh, and say unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Let my people go, that they may serve me", where God commands Moses to demand the release of the Israelites from bondage in Egypt. As is common in spirituals, the song discusses freedom,[2] referring both to the freedom of the Israelites, and that of runaway enslaved people.[3] As a result of these messages, this song was outlawed by many enslavers.[4]
The opening verse as published by the Jubilee Singers in 1872:
When Israel was in Egypt's land
Let my people go
Oppress'd so hard they could not stand
Let my people go
Refrain:
Go down, Moses
Way down in Egypt's land
Tell old Pharaoh
Let my people go
Lyrically, the song discusses the liberation of the ancient Jewish people from Egyptian slavery. This story held a second meaning for enslaved African Americans, as they related their experiences under slavery to those of Moses and the Israelites who were enslaved by the pharaoh,[5] and they resonated with the message that God will come to the aid of the persecuted. "Go Down Moses" also makes references to the Jordan River, commonly associated with reaching freedom in spirituals because such an act of running away often involved crossing one or more rivers.[6][7]
Since the Old Testament recognizes the Nile Valley as further south, and thus, lower than Jerusalem and the Promised Land, heading to Egypt means going "down"[8] while going away from Egypt is "up".[9] In the context of American slavery, this ancient sense of "down" converged with the concept of "down the river" (the Mississippi), where enslaved people's conditions were notoriously worse. Later verses also draw parallels between the Israelites' freedom from slavery and humanity's freedom won by Christ.[10]
^Bible: Exodus 5:1
^Newman, R. S. (1998). Go Down Moses: A Celebration of the African-American Spiritual. Clarkson N. Potter.
^Darden, R. (2004). People Get Ready! A New History of Black Gospel Music. Bloomsbury.
^Newman, R. S. (1998). Go Down Moses: A Celebration of the African-American Spiritual. Clarkson N. Potter.
^Darden, R. (2004). People Get Ready! A New History of Black Gospel Music. Bloomsbury.
^Cleveland, J. J. (Ed.). (1981). Songs of Zion. Abingdon Press.
^Cornelius, Steven (2004). Music of the Civil War Era. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 118. ISBN 0313320810
^For example, in Genesis 42:2 Jacob commands his sons to "go down to Egypt" to buy grain
^In Exodus 1:10, Pharaoh expresses apprehension that the Hebrews would join Egypt's enemies and "go up [i.e. away] from the land"
^Warren, G. S. (1997). Ev’ry Time I Feel the Spirit: 101 Best-Loved Psalms, Gospel Hymns, and Spiritual Songs of the African-American Church.” Holt.
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