Learning in the Shadows: A Self-Taught Journey to Freedom mixtape

 Chloe Troy

African American lit 1

Dr. Harris

Final Project

December 7th, 2025

Learning in the Shadows: A Self-Taught Journey to Freedom mixtape

The reason that slaveholders kept enslaved African Americans from receiving an education was due to the concern they had that allowing slaves to read and write would make them more aware of their own situations and to think of rebelling against their masters in order to gain their freedom. Frederick Douglass famously noted that when he learned how to read and write, he was now able to understand that through the acquisition of an education, an enslaved person is able to escape from slavery into the light of freedom. In order for the enslaved to get an education, they would create their own method of educating themselves through studying, asking for assistance from members of the community, singing spirituals, and writing songs. Songs were a form of survival and provided information about where to seek shelter and food, warnings of what not to do, and whom to contact for assistance if caught. Both the written and sung words of literacy became a means of rebelling against slavery as well as assisting in mentally liberating the enslaved from the control of their slaveholders. The songs chosen for this mixtape symbolize the path of the enslaved toward self-educating themselves, resisting their oppression, and helping each other to achieve their physical freedom from slavery.

Track 1: Steal Away to Jesus (Steal Away)– Reverend Pearly Brown

This song reflects the secret origins of education. This song served as a signal for covert gatherings where enslaved people could exchange knowledge and foster a sense of community, much as Douglass had to conceal his education.

Track 2: Wade in the Water – Cynthia Liggins Thomas

This song illustrates how songs taught enslaved people survival skills. The lyrics demonstrated how learning occurred through coded language rather than books by teaching them how to flee unnoticed.

Track 3: Follow the Drinking Gourd – Eric Bibb This song is a map in musical form. It shows how enslaved people learned navigation and geography through song—another form of self-taught education.

Track 4: Go Down, Moses – Paul Robeson

This song helped enslaved people understand their condition through biblical education. Like Douglass learning to read stories of freedom, this song taught resistance through storytelling. 

Track 5: Swing Low, Sweet Chariot – B.B. King

This song is a representation of learning to recognize opportunities. When an escape was approaching, enslaved people learned this through song.

Track 6: No More Auction Block for Me – Paul Robeson

This song shows emotional awareness learning one’s worth and rejecting the identity forced onto them by slavery.

Track 7: Didn’t My Lord Deliver Daniel? – Paul Robeson

Enslaved people learn about resilience and victory from this song. They discovered hope through survival stories, just like Douglass.

Track 8: Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child – unknown 

This song is a representation of emotional education learning through loss of identity, isolation, and sorrow.

Track 9: Roll, Jordan, Roll – Topsy Chapman

This song is a symbol of shared identity and communal learning enslaved people used music to learn together.

Track 10: Guide My Feet – Jacqueline Hairston and Louise Toppin

This song Represents the careful step,by-step journey of self-education, just as Douglass secretly taught himself to read and write

Track 11: Hush, Hush, Somebody’s Callin’ My Name – Michel Larue

This was a warning song that taught awareness of danger and alertness, which is another type of survival education.

Track 12: Hold On  – The Montgomery Improvement Association

Similar to Douglass continuing to educate himself in spite of punishment, this song symbolizes tenacity in learning and resistance.

Track 13: Ain’t That Good News – Michel LaRue

The reward of self education and liberation is represented by this last track, which stands for mental and spiritual freedom.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLV_aKHfOvEEQGAsuxxTDyBDHp8sXSoej-