Entertainment

The Phoenix
Polity Club Holds Conference to Discuss Negro-White Problem
Courtesy of Swarthmore College Archives

Saturday's conference concluded with an evening of entertainment. This included a male quartet from Hampton Institute that sung "Little David Play on Your Harp" and "I Got Shoes." Both songs are African American Spirituals. This genre of music is a type of religious folksong that originated from people who were enslaved in America. People of African descent who were enslaved used Spirituals to express their faith in their own way, drawing parallels between their experience and stories from the Bible.¹

"Little David Play on Your Harp" is based on the Old Testament story of David defeating the giant, Goliath. The figure of David, as underdog turned victor over Goliath, resonated with people of African descent in the US who suffered under slavery and racial discrimination.²

In the song "I Got Shoes," shoes, like other imagery in the lyrics, such as wings and crowns, were symbols of deliverance from enslavement. The song expresses a hope in a better future, perhaps in this life, perhaps in the next life, where "all God's children" would be free.³

I got shoes, you got shoes, all of God’s children got shoes

When I get to heaven gonna put on my shoes

I’m gonna walk all over God’s heaven, heaven

The 1909 recording below is from the Fisk University Jubilee Singers male quartet. The Fisk Jubilee Singers and the Hampton Singers of Hampton Institute were two of the earliest groups to offer touring performances of African American Spirituals.

Although every college delegation played or sang for the others, we do not have a record of what the other performances were. According to one account, there was dancing and "the evening ended with Swarthmore's alma mater."⁴

1909 recording from the Fisk University Jubilee Singers

0:00 - 1:20 "Little David, play on yo' harp"

1:32 - 2:51 "I Got Shoes"

Disc cover for the audio track
Shout All Over God's Heaven, listed as the second title on the disc cover, is an alternative name for I Got Shoes.

^{1."African American Spirituals," The Library of Congress ↩}

^{2.Anonymous, "Performance Notes,"introduction to sheet music of "Little David Play on Your Harp Rollo Dilworth," ACDA of Minnesota, Honors Choir↩}

^{3.Kirk-Duggan, Cheryl A., "The Matrix of African American Sacred Music in the 21st Century," The Journal of Traditions & Beliefs, Vol. 1 , Article 3, 2009. ↩}

^{4."Polity Club Holds Conference to Discuss Negro-White Problems," Swarthmore Phoenix,}^{April 15, 1924↩}