Block#3

10/28/2020
Word Count: 479 words
NHD Intro Paper
“If you hear the dogs, keep going. If you see the torches in the woods, keep going. If there's

shouting after you, keep going. Don't ever stop. Keep going. If you want a taste of freedom, keep

going,” these are the famous words of Harriet Tubman a guide, in the underground railroad. Her

job was to safely guide slaves into areas where they can live peacefully and free. This was all

made possible by her greatest power, her voice! Her effective communication with slaves and

abolitionists helped them achieve freedom. Countless abolitionists and freed slaves have used

very creative and innovative communication methods to help with the fight against slavery.

Wholesome communication is the key to a salutary revolution.

The sad truth of our nation was that it was built on slavery, but in confluence to slavery,

communication between slaves and abolitionists grew too. Slave owners were typically farmers

and owned plantations (huge farms). On these plantations white men on horses watched the

slaves like watch dogs. But slaves needed a way to communicate with each other even in these

horrendous conditions. Due to this situation the slaves created a new mode of communication,

songs. Songs such as “Sing Low Sweet Chariot” and “Fallow the Drinkin’ Gourd” were made so

that slaves can use them to escape plantations. The acted like maps and were shared by slaves so

other slaves would also know how to escape. Slaves also used song to communicate feelings

with each other. This communication in song made it very difficult for slave owners to

understand what their slaves where not singing but telling each other escape routes, it was plain

brilliant!
 Throughout the vast depths of history communication has been present, but why is

communication in American slavery so significant? If communication among slaves and

abolitionists had never been existent, the Civil War would have never token place. No Civil War

would mean that segregation would have never been terminated. And if all three things never

took place, the future we live in would still suffer from slavery and racial prejudice. As said

before, wholesome communication is the key to a salutary revolution. If the communication

between the slaves and abolitionists never had happened, the life we hold so precious would have

never happened. This reason makes communication in American slavery one of the most

important events in American history.

Communication and fighting slavery have a direct correlation. Communication has been the

main reason slaves were able to escape the torture of slavery, without the songs they created to

speak to each other they would have never been able to defeat the demon known as slavery.

For all these reasons, communication in slavery is a perfect topic for this year’s NHD theme. It

shows us why communication in slavery was so important and needed. And why communication

and fighting slavery relates to one and another.