Follow the Drinking Gourd
Traditional
- Written by
- [Traditional]
- Language
- English
- Comments
- African-American folk song first published in 1928. The Drinking Gourd is another name for the Big Dipper asterism. Folklore has it that slaves in the United States used it as a point of reference in the sky so they would not get lost. According to legend, the song was used by a conductor of the Underground Railroad, called Peg Leg Joe, to guide some fugitive slaves. While the song may possibly refer to some lost fragment of history, the origin and context remain a mystery. "Follow the Drinking Gourd" was collected by H. B. Parks, an entomologist and amateur folklorist, in the 1910s. The song was published by the Texas Folklore Society in 1928.
- Licensing
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