"Swing Low, Sweet Chariot,” “Go Down, Moses,” “Keep Your Hand on the Plow”

When I was researching who originally wrote "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot", each website said something different, so I do not really know who originally wrote it but it seems that most websites agree that it was written by a slave ("Swing Low"). This makes plenty of sense to me because the poem/song says "Comin' for to carry me home" (NetHymnal) every other line. I know slaves used to sing plenty of songs to help inspire them and get them through the day. It is a great stress reliever. The song seems to be quite religious as well (NetHymnal).
Again, "Go Down, Moses" seems to be about slaves. It repeats "let my people go" every other line, just like "Swing Low...", and this obviously refers to slaves wanting to be free ("Go Down). Just by the title, you can tell that this also brings up religion quite frequently.
"Keep Your Hand on the Plow" also follows the patterns from the previous songs. It repeats "keep your hands on the plow" fairly often (at the end of every 3-line-stanza) and brings up biblical characters and was also sung by slave ("Keep Your Hands).
As you can tell, all of these songs are very into religion and it seems that the slaves relied heavily on this. This differs from Transcendentalism because for the most part, they did not believe in organized religion (Mannion) where as these people seemed to be very organized in their religious views ("Keep Your Hands"). These two ideas do contrast a bit (and by a bit I mean a lot). Emmerson & Thoreau didn't reject God or anything like that; they still believed & believed that He was in our souls, but just rejected organized religion, church dogma, etc. So in a way you can also compare the two because the Transcendentalists still relied on God for things as did the slaves for getting them out of their tough situation(s). It is kind of weird how they are both different and similar at the same time.


NetHymnal. Web. 10 Feb. 2012. .

"Swing Low Sweet Chariot, an International Hymn Written by a Black Slave! | African American Registry." The Black Box | African American Registry. Web. 10 Feb. 2012. .

"Go Down Moses." Web. 10 Feb. 2012. .

"Keep Your Hands On The Plow - GospelSongLyrics.Org." GospelSongLyrics.org - Lyrics and Music to All Your Favorite Gospel Songs. Web. 10 Feb. 2012. .

Mannion, James. "Transcendentalism Today - Philosophy." Netplaces. Web. 10 Feb. 2012. .