“Roll Jordan Roll” - the Song-Symbol of the Whole Slavery

Introduction

From a gateway to convert slaves to Christianity, to religious allegories, to the escaping of slavery, to a former slave song of death and sorrow. ‘Roll Jordan Roll’ is a song sung by slaves in the book to movie adaptation, ‘12 years a slave’. In this scene we see slaves standing at the graveside of their fellow laborer who passed away from exhaustion. In this famous scene, Northup, is seen to have resisted at first, but later seem to have embraced his fate, and finally joins in, his voice growing stronger as he stood alongside peers.

Original Composer/Adaptations

‘Roll Jordan Roll’ was originally composed by an English Methodist preacher, Charles Wesley sometime in the 1700s. It was then turned to religious allegories and then the escaping of slavery. This song was used by slave owners to ‘Christianize’ slaves and convert their beliefs in hopes to make them more submissive to their says and orders, which could also be perceived as Africanizations of Christian hymns. The song soon became popular with the slaves and was later accepted as a former slave song rather than a Methodist spiritual. It was turned into a song of oppression, sorrow, then a pathway for hope and eventual movement of abolitionism as portrayed in this scene *shows clip* from 12 years a slave.

Literal, Infer & Critical (LIC) Analysis

The song starts with a female slave singing. . . Her voice is strong and loud, to which convinces other slaves to voluntarily sing along, Northup on the other hand, experiences internal conflict within himself which was shown through his facial expression: ‘surprised, confused and fear’ towards the tension during the funeral, but later on joins in as a sign that he endeavored to accept his fate of being a slave. Their singing got louder and in sync which could also signify that the ‘living’ slaves support and/or acknowledge the death of their friend, thus singing the ‘roll Jordan roll’ as a farewell song that wishes him (the dead man) good luck on his journey to ‘heaven’ (Jordan River). The reason he did not join in from the start could be because he is contemplating his thoughts, as he still holds a statement to heart that he is still ‘a free man’. Him joining in could mean that he had accepted his fate as a slave and wish his friend well on his journey to heaven. This could be interpreted as him thinking: ‘good luck, I’ll see you there’.

Religion

In biblical tradition the Jordan River served an important geological and symbolic role which represented the Lord's power and ritual immersion, also known as baptism. The repetition of the lyric, “roll, Jordan roll, ” describes the water’s potential and how traveling over the water which first enslaved them will also set them free. Furthermore, the Jordan River is also mentioned indirectly in Genesis 13, and it signifies a river which the people must cross in order to reach the “promised land” given to them by God. The meaning could be interpreted as the slaves physically crossing a river which leads them to freedom, or it could be as a dead slave which passes over river Styx into death. Thus, “crossing Jordan” was an idea of going home to restore a lost and oppressed community. However, it also represented death, which was generally seen as liberation from the harsh realities of slave life. This is seen through the line “I don't want to survive, I want to live” where the slaves do not want to survive constrained, but they want to live with liberty.

Roll Jordan Roll emphasizes on religion as both a major battleground for psychological control between the slaves and their oppressors, but on the contrary, it also represents a source of spiritual strength and hope for the slaves. In this scene, the song may symbolize a hope that those enslaved would someday find freedom, but maybe not freedom from escaping to another land where their worth is not defined by the color of their skin, but freedom in death and, hopefully an afterlife. In fact during the slave era, slaves have been known to commit suicide in hopes that their spirits would return to Africa. My soul ought to rise in heaven, Lord. For the year when Jordan rolls. As the Jordan River signifies the pathway to freedom. Speaking of rivers, the song hides an important message about the hope for escape. This can be interpreted by the slaves that the song lyrics are associated with. Perhaps referring to escaping via the river of Mississippi or Ohio and northward. Historists may support the message as it could be associated with the ‘Underground Railway Movement’; which is the attempt to escape to the north, where slaves are more secured and their safety are guaranteed by the help of the society of Quakers. As quoted: “To truly gain their freedom, African Americans had to leave the United States”. In some areas, prior reaching the railway, slaves must first pass through Ohio River and many other rivers to get to their destination. Hallelujah!

Setting

The setting of this scene is a funeral of a man who died, which was a fellow slave, who suddenly died in the middle of the cotton fields while they were working, assumedly from exhaustion. While “Roll Jordan Roll” may be interpreted as an emblem of hope, in this adaptation of “Roll Jordan Roll”, it refers more to death and an afterlife which the dead slave would go to. There is resolve in the expressions of the slaves which signifies how they are proud to stand at this man’s graveside, being able to salute his ability to leave the fields.

Discrimination

The African people’s identity was defined by their skin color. Their homeland has always been depicted negatively, known as the “The Dark Continent”, a place in which lies savages and cannibals. This was then correlated with their darker skin tone as it was seen as “impure” and “clouded”.

Furthermore, their freedom was stripped away from them and they weren’t seen as equal citizens. This prevented them from voting, running for office, suing in court and sometimes even their basic human rights were violated. They were treated unfairly and were often charged or punished harshly for minor offenses. Blacks were seen as a “lesser” race which allowed the Whites to abuse them without fault. This is depicted throughout the entire movie “12 Years a Slave” as the Whites saw the Blacks as people who were not their equal hence why they made them slaves and mistreated them without worrying about breaking the law.

Community/ Culture

Despite the fact that the song is being led by the singular woman, there is an evident sense of community which can be seen through this scene as there is no hierarchical structure. There is no “leader” with power and all of the men and women are scattered evenly throughout the small group. The unison clapping also bounds them together as their community all has one aspect in common, their enslaved state. They did not choose to come together, but they were brought together. This is seen with how there is a lack of familiar love that is replaced with a connection, simply because there is no one else with whom they could be with. Hence, making the community mildly forced with all the different cultures being brought together.

Though Northup is shown to be rebellion at first, the lyrics along with the setting of the song and scene signify a community that represent hopelessness from the oppression they experience, but at the same time there is still a little bit of hope that can be heard in the emotions in their voices. Northup joins in in an emotional and inspirational way that matches the passion evoked by his fellow slaves that stood alongside him, signifying how he has accepted his fate and joining the community of the enslaved, no longer bounded by his previous life as a free man. This is a community of individuals who have come together through a hardships, and united as they are, they hope for freedom in a hopeless situation. Even in their enslaved state, through this scene we are able to see the sense of community, this shows that African-Americans are able to preserve human dignity and respect for one another, by them coming together to pay respects to the friend they had just lost.

Identity

In both the film and the book, Northup states several times that he is not a slave, He is a man from Santaroga and has a wife and a family; work as a musician and carpenter, He is a free man. In the film however, when he states identity, he was told he was not, thus getting beaten for it. This statement was repeated over and over in chapter 3. This shows the only hope he (Northup) have left in the middle of the chaos and confusion. Where he repeated who is he, where he came from to remind himself and hopefully convinces his owner of his identity, to keep him sane.

Conflict & Change

In the history, African slaves were stripped of their homeland, their names, their language, their culture and custom, as well as their history by the white men. Even their religion has been shifted to Christianity. It was explicitly skithown in the song that the Africans were greatly influenced by their owners during that time, especially on their religious mindset and moreover the way they speak and their language. West African language often lacks consonant clusters, thus making their accent slightly more significant than the formal English that we have today.

How the Song is Viewed From Other Perspectives

Owner & Slaves: In the mid-19th century, it was common for slaves to slip away from plantation to visit their friends elsewhere. During this time, the slave-owners feared interaction between slaves and that they would come up with a ploy to rise against their owners. The owners strictly forbade slaves to communicate in any means, especially during work time. Later on, when “Roll Jordan Roll” came in as a Christianization mean, the hymn became an important part of the African American culture as they were finally sharing a common interest and interacting with one another within the bounds of the community for the first time. This connects to Run Nigger Run, which was an African American folk song, composed in 1851. It was also used in the original film of ‘12 Years of Slaves’. The song is about an unnamed black man who attempts to escape the slave patrol and avoid capture. Initially, the song was used to encourage escapees and forewarn them of the dangers involved. “Run, Nigger, Run” signifies a fearless slave-man who keeps on charging forward, towards his will of being free from captivation; similar to how “Roll Jordan Roll” symbolizes the hope of liberty. To slave-men, the songs are their smallest spects of hope, the mean of their desire and motives. Most importantly, they are the joints to the African-American ethnic and community.

Slaves: The slaves have taken the Christianizing message behind the song Roll Jordan Roll, and have converted it into their own message of hope and freedom in order to show their resistance against the injustice. To slaves, Roll Jordan Roll is a tool of empowerment and resistance, within the system designed to dehumanize them, their identity and their worth, it’s a symbol rebellion, dignity, hope and liberty, and even judgement and death.

Composer: Roll Jordan Roll is one of the songs that Chapman and other composers artists who contributed to this movie adapted and supplied into an album. A compilation of songs adaptations with the intention to tackle to concept of slavery and their sufferings. Chiwetel mentioned that the character Solomon “cannot show his intelligence or the fact that he can read so the music has to convey his emotions for him. ” This connects to one of the composers, Steve Mcqueen’s statement "What I was thinking about was silent movie stars - Valentino, Buster Keaton - because when you're on your own and you can't talk to people about who you are, it's all about how you can translate that to an audience", Steve McQueen and Zimmer valued the revolvement of each of the songs to Solomon’s identity, meaning not only roll Jordan roll, but almost every song that has been composed and put together should speak about Solomon Northup or could relate to him the most. Thus this scene shows McQueen’s understanding of the importance of music in the development of Solomon but also how society is depicted as well.

Society: Spirituals are the Christian songs that were adapted to express the African American religious resistance to the inhuman conditions of slavery. They were never taken quite seriously by writers in slave-holding states, the songs did however spark serious interest among abolitionist Union officers dealing with displaced slaves.

Conclusion

So overall, here’s what we’ve covered in this video: ‘Roll Jordan Roll’ was originally composed by an English Methodist preacher, Charles Wesley during the 1700s as a gateway to Christianize slaves. It was adapted from generations to generations. The movie ‘12 years a slave’ uses the song and adapted it to fit in the movie. It’s adaptation or similarities to ‘Run Nigger Run’. Its connection to different aspects and how it was viewed (Slave owners, slaves, composers). It’s connection to the era where the movie was placed.

Analytical breakdown of the funeral scene in 12 years a slave, where Roll Jordan Roll was sung. The film ‘12 years a slave’ perfectly showcases the brutal relationship between white and black people. It covers not only the pain and what’s it like to be a slave, but also showing the African heritage and American experience. The setting, songs and references used in the film shows the accomplishment of how they depicted the life of a slave, though not only the actions or the character’s way to talking, but also different facial expressions, songs and the scenery. It shows that slavery was never just one thing, but an almost incomprehensible multitude. Race was not ‘clearly’ mentioned in the film, but it was shown in different ways, this could range from how Northup’s owner called him a ‘black liar’ with most slurs revolving his skin color and ethnicity.