How "Dumb Niggers" Outsmarted Everyone To Freedom

“Swing Low Sweet Chariot” was one of the spirituals that conveyed a secret meaning to slaves. According to this theory, slave spirituals did a lot more than offer a promise of eventual redemption; they also offered specific strategies and even maps needed to escape. For example, “Wade in the Water” taught runaway slaves how to throw off the bloodhounds sent to track them down,...