Recognizing the African American Spiritual as a National Treasure

RECOGNIZING THE AFRICAN AMERICAN SPIRITUAL AS A NATIONAL TREASURE

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Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentlewoman from California for yielding. I rise in strong support of H. Res. 120, recognizing the African American spiritual as a national treasure.

Growing up in the rural South in the 1950s, we grew up on what was then called the Negro spiritual, and many of these songs, of course, had great meaning, especially the lyrics. I remember, ``Follow the Old Man' that is ``Coming to Carry Me to Freedom' if you ``Follow the Drinking Gourd.' Well, gourds supposedly grew northward, and if you followed the direction of the gourd, you would get out of the slave South back during slavery and the abolitionist period, and you would be headed north. And so not only did these songs sound good, not only were they spiritually uplifting as one that I heard on this past Sunday at the Second Baptist Church in Maywood, Illinois, but they also were didactic; they were teaching and inspirational.

So I commend the gentlewoman from Connecticut for her introduction of this great resolution and urge its support.

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