"For the old man is a-waiting for to carry you to freedom
If you follow the drinking gourd."
It sounded like a simple folk song sung by slaves, but it was really a map to freedom—for hidden in the lyrics were directions to the escape route known as the Underground Railroad. In glowing paintings that evoke the American folk tradition and a simple text inspired by slave narratives, Jeanette Winter tells the story of one brave family who followed the drinking gourd—the Big Dipper—north to liberation.
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