William Wells Brown

Name: The Anti-slavery Harp: A Collection of Songs for Anti-slavery Meetings
Author: William Wells Brown

The Anti-slavery Harp: A Collection of Songs for Anti-slavery Meetings

Summary

“The Anti-slavery Harp: A Collection of Songs for Anti-slavery Meetings”, is a work by William Wells Brown. It explores elements such as slave, voice and Giddings.

Quotes from The Anti-slavery Harp: A Collection of Songs for Anti-slavery Meetings (William Wells Brown)

William Wells Brown, The Anti-slavery Harp: A Collection of Songs for Anti-slavery Meetings

“ In the land of New England I’m free from your wrath,
And the sons of the Pilgrims my deep scars shall see,
Till they cry with one voice, “Let the bondman go free.”
That voice shall roll on, ’mong the hills of the North,
In murmurs more loud till its thunders break forth;
On the wings of the wind shall its deep echoes fly,
Swift as lightning above, from sky e’en to sky,
Nor charters nor unions its mandates shall check,
’Twill cry, in God’s name, “Go break every yoke,”—
Like the tempests of Heaven, shaking mountain and sea,
Shall the North tell the South, “Let the bondman go free.” ”

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Source: Gutenberg

William Wells Brown, The Anti-slavery Harp: A Collection of Songs for Anti-slavery Meetings

“ O mother! I’ve no one to love me—no heart
Can bear like thine own in my sorrows a part;
No hand is so gentle, no voice is so kind!
O! none like a mother can cherish the blind!
Poor blind one! no mother thy wailing can hear,
No mother can hasten to banish thy fear;
For the slave-owner drives her o’er mountain and wild,
And for one paltry dollar hath sold thee, poor child!
Ah! who can in language of mortals reveal
The anguish that none but a mother can feel,
When man in his vile lust of mammon hath trod
On her child, who is stricken and smitten of God! ”

[↩︎]

Source: Gutenberg

William Wells Brown, The Anti-slavery Harp: A Collection of Songs for Anti-slavery Meetings

“ Who for freedom fought and bled,
With her banner o’er you spread,
On, to victory.
Not for stern ambition’s prize,
Do our hopes and wishes rise;
Lo, our leader from the skies,
Bids us do or die.
Ours is not the tented field—
We no earthly weapons wield,
Light and love our sword and shield,
Truth our panoply.
This is proud oppression’s hour;
Storms are round us; shall we cower?
While beneath a despot’s power
Groans the suffering slave?
While on every southern gale,
Comes the helpless captive’s tale,
And the voice of woman’s wail,
And of man’s despair! ”

[↩︎]

Source: Gutenberg

William Wells Brown, The Anti-slavery Harp: A Collection of Songs for Anti-slavery Meetings

“ Is there a man that never prized
The sweets of liberty?
Then let him, let him breathe unseen, [16]
Or in a dungeon live;
Nor never, never know the sweets
That liberty can give.
Is there a heart so cold in man,
Can galling fetters crave?
Is there a wretch so truly low,
Can stoop to be a slave?
O, let him, then, in chains be bound,
In chains and bondage live;
Nor never, never know the sweets
That liberty can give.
Is there a breast so chilled in life,
Can nurse the coward’s sigh?
Is there a creature so debased,
Would not for freedom die? ”

[↩︎]

Source: Gutenberg

William Wells Brown, The Anti-slavery Harp: A Collection of Songs for Anti-slavery Meetings

“ Who hath torn from his mother the little blind boy!
YE SONS OF FREEMEN!
Air—Marseilles Hymn.
Ye sons of freemen, wake to sadness,
Hark! hark! what myriads bid you rise;
Three millions of our race in madness
Break out in wails, in bitter cries,
Break out in wails, in bitter cries;
Must men whose hearts now bleed with anguish,
Yes, trembling slaves in freedom’s land,
Endure the lash, nor raise a hand?
Must nature ’neath the whip-cord languish?
Have pity on the slave,
Take courage from God’s word;
Pray on, pray on, all hearts resolved—these captives shall be free. ”

[↩︎]

Source: Gutenberg

William Wells Brown, The Anti-slavery Harp: A Collection of Songs for Anti-slavery Meetings

“ If there breathe on earth a slave,
Are ye truly free and brave?
Are ye not base slaves indeed,
Men unworthy to be freed,
If ye do not feel the chain,
When it works a brother’s pain?
Women! who shall one day bear
Sons to breathe God’s bounteous air,
If ye hear without a blush,
Deeds to make the roused blood rush
Like red lava through your veins,
For your sisters now in chains;
Answer! are ye fit to be
Mothers of the brave and free?
Is true freedom but to break
Fetters for our own dear sake,
And, with leathern hearts forget
That we owe mankind a debt? ”

[↩︎]

Source: Gutenberg

William Wells Brown, The Anti-slavery Harp: A Collection of Songs for Anti-slavery Meetings

“ Is lost in the sound of her chain, as it clanks.
Peace, then, ye blasphemers of Liberty’s name!
Though red was the blood by your forefathers spilt,
Still redder your cheeks should be mantled with shame,
Till the spirit of freedom shall cancel the guilt.
But the brand of the slave is the tint of his skin,
Though his heart may beat loyal and true underneath;
While the soul of the tyrant is rotten within,
And his white the mere cloak to the blackness of death.
Are ye deaf to the plaints that each moment arise? ”

[↩︎]

Source: Gutenberg

William Wells Brown, The Anti-slavery Harp: A Collection of Songs for Anti-slavery Meetings

“ Who scorn the neck to bow
To Slavery’s power?
Sons of the Free! we call
On you, in field and hall,
To rise as one;
Your heaven-born rights maintain,
Nor let Oppression’s chain
On human limbs remain;—
Speak! and ’tis done.
THE SLAVE’S LAMENTATION.
Air—Long, long ago.
Where are the friends that to me were so dear,
Long, long ago—long ago!
Where are the hopes that my heart used to cheer,
Long, long ago—long ago!
I am degraded, for man was my foe, [13]
Friends that I loved in the grave are laid low,
All hope of freedom hath fled from me now,
Long, long ago—long, long ago! ”

[↩︎]

Source: Gutenberg

William Wells Brown, The Anti-slavery Harp: A Collection of Songs for Anti-slavery Meetings

“ I’m not a slave any more!
No, no—oh, no!
I’m a FREE MAN evermore!
THE BONDMAN.
Air—Troubadour.
Feebly the bondman toiled,
Sadly he wept—
Then to his wretched cot
Mournfully crept;
How doth his free-born soul
Pine ’neath his chain!
Slavery! Slavery!
Dark is thy reign.
Long ere the break of day, [34]
Roused from repose,
Wearily toiling
Till after its close—
Praying for freedom,
He spends his last breath:
Liberty! Liberty!
Give me or death.
When, when, O Lord! will right
Triumph o’er wrong?
Tyrants oppress the weak,
O Lord! how long?
Hark! hark! a peal resounds
From shore to shore—
Tyranny! ”

[↩︎]

Source: Gutenberg

William Wells Brown, The Anti-slavery Harp: A Collection of Songs for Anti-slavery Meetings

“ When England’s proud lion ran wild on our shore!
We’re coming, we’re coming, from mountain and glen,
With hearts to do battle for freedom again;
Oppression is trembling as trembled before
The slavery which fled from our fathers of yore.
We’re coming, we’re coming, with banners unfurled,
Our motto is FREEDOM, our country the world;
Our watchword is LIBERTY—tyrants beware!
For the liberty army will bring your despair!
We’re coming, we’re coming, we’ll come from afar,
Our standard we’ll nail to humanity’s car ”

[↩︎]

Source: Gutenberg

William Wells Brown, The Anti-slavery Harp: A Collection of Songs for Anti-slavery Meetings

“ From the crack of the rifle and baying of hound,
Takes the poor panting bondman his flight;
His couch through the day is the cold damp ground,
But northward he runs through the night.
Chorus.
O, God speed the flight of the desolate slave,
Let his heart never yield to despair;
There is room ’mong our hills for the true and the brave,
Let his lungs breathe our free northern air! ”

[↩︎]

Source: Gutenberg

William Wells Brown, The Anti-slavery Harp: A Collection of Songs for Anti-slavery Meetings

“ Shall proud New England’s sons be free,
And clank their fetters round her mountains.
Go if ye will and grind in dust,
Dark Afric’s poor, degraded child;
Wring from his sinews gold accursed,
And boast your gospel warm and mild.
While on our mountain tops the pine [41]
In freedom her green branches wave,
Her sons shall never stoop to bind
The galling shackle of the slave.
Ye dare demand with haughty tone
For us to pander to your shame,
To give our brother up alone,
To feel the lash and wear the chain.
Our brother never shall go back,
When once he presses our free shore ”

[↩︎]

Source: Gutenberg

William Wells Brown, The Anti-slavery Harp: A Collection of Songs for Anti-slavery Meetings

“ Come aid the poor slave’s liberation,
And roll on the liberty ball—
And roll on the liberty ball—
Come aid the poor slave’s liberation,
And roll on the liberty ball.
The liberty hosts are advancing—
For freedom to all they declare;
The down-trodden millions are sighing—
Come break up our gloom of despair. ”

[↩︎]

Source: Gutenberg

William Wells Brown, The Anti-slavery Harp: A Collection of Songs for Anti-slavery Meetings

“ This, this is Freedom’s day—Oppression flee away!
’Tis then we’ll sing, and offerings bring,
When freedom wins the day.
THE SLAVE’S A MAN, FOR A’ THAT.
Though stripped of all the dearest rights
Which nature claims and a’ that,
There’s that which in the slave unites
To make the man for a’ that:
For a’ that, and a’ that,
Though dark his skin, and a’ that,
We cannot rob him of his kind,
The slave’s a man, for a’ that. ”

[↩︎]

Source: Gutenberg

William Wells Brown, The Anti-slavery Harp: A Collection of Songs for Anti-slavery Meetings

“ Oppression’s deadly foe;
In God’s great strength will I resist,
And lay the monster low;
In God’s great name do I demand,
To all be freedom given,
That peace and joy may fill the land,
And songs go up to heaven!
I am an Abolitionist!
No threats shall awe my soul,
No perils cause me to desist,
No bribes my acts control;
A freeman will I live and die,
In sunshine and in shade,
And raise my voice for liberty,
Of nought on earth afraid.
THE BEREAVED MOTHER.
Air—Kathleen O’More.
O, deep was the anguish of the slave mother’s heart,
When called from her darling forever to part ”

[↩︎]

Source: Gutenberg

William Wells Brown, The Anti-slavery Harp: A Collection of Songs for Anti-slavery Meetings

“ From whom does it inherit
The doom of slavery?
When man can bind the waters,
That they no longer roll,
Then let him forge the fetters
To clog the human soul.
Till then a voice is stealing
From earth and sea and sky,
And to the soul revealing
Its immortality.
The swift wind chants the numbers
Careering o’er the sea,
And earth, aroused from slumbers,
Re-echoes, “Man be free.”
THE FUGITIVE SLAVE TO THE CHRISTIAN.
The fetters galled my weary soul—
A soul that seemed but thrown away;
I spurned the tyrant’s base control,
Resolved at last the man to play:—
The hounds are baying on my track ”

[↩︎]

Source: Gutenberg

William Wells Brown, The Anti-slavery Harp: A Collection of Songs for Anti-slavery Meetings

“ Now the scorn of the world—Three Millions in chains!
O! then shall Columbia’s proud flag be unfurled,
The glory of freemen, and pride of the world,
While earth’s strolling millions point hither in glee,
“To the land of the brave and the home of the free!” ”

[↩︎]

Source: Gutenberg

William Wells Brown, The Anti-slavery Harp: A Collection of Songs for Anti-slavery Meetings

“ I seek a home where man is man,
If such there be upon this earth,
To draw my kindred, if I can,
Around its free, though humble hearth.
The hounds are baying on my track,
O Christian! will you send me back?
RESCUE THE SLAVE.
Air—The Troubadour.
This song was composed while George Latimer, the fugitive slave, was confined in Leverett Street Jail, Boston, expecting to be carried back to Virginia by James B. Gray, his claimant.
Sadly the fugitive weeps in his cell,
Listen awhile to the story we tell;
Listen ye gentle ones, listen ye brave,
Lady fair! Lady fair! weep for the slave. ”

[↩︎]

Source: Gutenberg

William Wells Brown, The Anti-slavery Harp: A Collection of Songs for Anti-slavery Meetings

“ Call me not indolent beggar and bold enough,
Fain would I learn both to knit and to sew;
I’ve two little brothers at home, when they’re old enough,
They will work hard for the gifts you bestow;
Pity, kind gentlemen, friends of humanity,
Cold blows the wind, and the night’s coming on;
Give me some food for my mother in charity,
Give me some food, and then I will be gone.
[11] JUBILEE SONG.
Air—Away the Bowl. ”

[↩︎]

Source: Gutenberg

William Wells Brown, The Anti-slavery Harp: A Collection of Songs for Anti-slavery Meetings

“ Boston, boys! Boston boys! catch me my slaves.
Freemen, arouse ye, before it’s too late; [29]
Slavery is knocking at every gate,
Make good the promise, your early days gave,
Boston boys! Boston boys! rescue the slave.
SONG OF THE COFFLE GANG.
This song is said to be sung by Slaves, as they are chained in gangs, when parting from friends for the far-off South—children taken from parents, husbands from wives, and brothers from sisters.
See these poor souls from Africa,
Transported to America:
We are stolen and sold to Georgia, will you go along with me? ”

[↩︎]

Source: Gutenberg

William Wells Brown, The Anti-slavery Harp: A Collection of Songs for Anti-slavery Meetings

“ I hear the voice of Giddings, of Giddings, of Giddings,
I hear the voice of Giddings, in Congress, for the slave;
Oh! set the captive free, set him free, set him free,
Oh! set the captive free from his chains.
I hear the voice of thousands, of thousands, of thousands,
I hear the voice of thousands, in favor of “Disunion;”
Oh! set the captive free, set him free, set him free,
Oh! set the captive free from his chains.
[15] FLIGHT OF THE BONDMAN. DEDICATED TO WILLIAM W. BROWN,
And Sung by the Hutchinsons.
BY ELIAS SMITH.
Air—Silver Moon. ”

William Wells Brown

Summary

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