Uploaded May 2018 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
Here's a glimpse of the recording session a bunch of us did yesterday at the David Ruggles Center for Underground Railroad History in Florence, MA. Thanks to Sara Lennox and all at the Ruggles Center for welcoming us, to Gerald Clark for multiple roles in making it happen, to Tristan Gordon for setting texts to tunes and to all the singers who came out. Thanks, also, to Matt Callahan for getting the ball rolling, to Don Fiero for recording and Reto for filming! More news as the project develops.
Song Of The Aliened American
by Joshua McCarter Simpson, 1852
(This version from the retrospective 1874 collection "The Abolition Sidecar")
Tune: America/My Country ’tis of Thee)
My country, ’tis of thee,
Dark land of Slavery,
In thee we groan,
Long have our chains been worn—
Long has our grief been borne—
Our flesh has long been torn,
E’en from our bones.
The white man rules the day—
He bears despotic sway,
O’er all the land.
He wields the Tyrant’s rod,
Fearless of man or God,
And at his impious nod,
We “fall or stand.”
O! shall we longer bleed?
Is there no one to plead
The black man’s cause?
Does justice thus demand
That we shall wear the brand,
And raise not voice nor hand
Against such laws?
No! no! the time has come,
When we must not be dumb,
We must awake.
We now “Eight Millions Strong,”
Must strike sweet freedom’s song
And lease ourselves, our wrong—
Our chains must break.
Here's a glimpse of the recording session a bunch of us did yesterday at the David Ruggles Center for Underground Railroad History in Florence, MA. Thanks to Sara Lennox and all at the Ruggles Center for welcoming us, to Gerald Clark for multiple roles in making it happen, to Tristan Gordon for setting texts to tunes and to all the singers who came out. Thanks, also, to Matt Callahan for getting the ball rolling, to Don Fiero for recording and Reto for filming! More news as the project develops.
Song Of The Aliened American
by Joshua McCarter Simpson, 1852
(This version from the retrospective 1874 collection "The Abolition Sidecar")
Tune: America/My Country ’tis of Thee)
My country, ’tis of thee,
Dark land of Slavery,
In thee we groan,
Long have our chains been worn—
Long has our grief been borne—
Our flesh has long been torn,
E’en from our bones.
The white man rules the day—
He bears despotic sway,
O’er all the land.
He wields the Tyrant’s rod,
Fearless of man or God,
And at his impious nod,
We “fall or stand.”
O! shall we longer bleed?
Is there no one to plead
The black man’s cause?
Does justice thus demand
That we shall wear the brand,
And raise not voice nor hand
Against such laws?
No! no! the time has come,
When we must not be dumb,
We must awake.
We now “Eight Millions Strong,”
Must strike sweet freedom’s song
And lease ourselves, our wrong—
Our chains must break.
