Kishna Fowler, Soprano
Anne Lundy, Conductor
Hudson Valley Philharmonic
Saturday, Mary 5, 2022


1. My Name is Araminta 00:00
2. My Name is Harriet Now 05:09
3. I am Harriet Tubman, Free Woman 10:40
4. I am Moses, the Liberator 18:50

1.
My name is Araminta
But everybody calls me Minty.
I lived with my Mother, my four brothers and four sisters
Working for Master Brodess
Mama works cleaning the house
While Papa works chopping lumber.
His master lets him visit us,
He doesn’t live far away.

and we’re all so very happy
That our family gets to stay together
As long as we keep working for the master
We all can stay together

Master Brodess sold my three sisters
He said he needed the money
He sold them on a chain-gang headed south
We never did hear from them again
Master Brodess says he’ll hire my time
And I’ll work for another planter.
There will be more money as he rents me out like so,
And there won’t be need to sell me away.

And I’m oh so very happy
That my family gets to stay together
As long as I keep working for the master
And I am earning money
Then we all can stay together
We all can stay together

They say I’m turning seven
And they’re sending me to work for a new master
I hope he and his missus are kind people as they
Hire my time from Master Brodess
I will cook and clean the house
I will watch their little baby
I’ll mind my mistress, and I’ll do just what I’m told
So they won’t have me sold away

And we’re all so very happy
That our family gets to stay together.
As long as I keep working for my master
And he doesn’t lose more money
And he finds no cause to sell me
Then we all can stay together.

2.
My Name is Harriet now.
Minty was the name of my youth
But that child died when they struck me,
Leaving me unconscious
Don’t call me Minty anymore!
Don’t you call me Minty anymore!

They dragged my Mama’s mother
From Africa, changed her name.
And then they whipped my mother
whipped me just the same.
Well Mama is a woman,
I am a woman, too!

You are Harriet now, God told me.
Your toil has not been in vain.
Each lash had meaning.
Joy will follow your pain.
You’ll be hero to your people.
All shall remember your name.
Don’t call me Minty anymore.
Harriet is my name, now.

Harriet, home ruler, guardian of the home.
That’s who I became
When I woke from my slumbering.
God told me
My Name is Harriet now

3.
I am Harriet Tubman
And I am a free woman,
I Escaped My slavery from Maryland.
I traveled here on foot through the winter,
running from can’t to can.
And I have
hidden in holes,
trekked through swamps,
half starved, half crazed
With patter-rollers and dogs that chased me
thought I’d never make it.

My, my, my
Well, well, well, well,

but then
I looked at my hands to
see if I was the same person.
There was glory over everything.
And the sun came like gold through the trees,
and I felt like I was in heaven.
I’d crossed the line, I was free!

When I crossed that line,
into freedom,
I was finally free.
When I crossed,
that line to freedom,
I was Finally free.
When I crossed
that line to freedom–

Your kind William Still
helped me, fed me, found me a job.
I worked scrubbing houses clean as can be.
And though my back ached,
and my hands liked to bleed,
it felt like I was in heaven

But-
Well,

But here in Philadelphia
I was a stranger in a strange land
with none familiar here to welcome me.
My home was after all,
on the plantation with my family.
What good is a brand new life,
and how can I have freedom,
without my family?

And so, to this solemn resolution I came.
If I was free then my family should be free, too.
I would make a home for them here in the North.
And the Lord helping me,
I will bring them all here,
and we’ll be together.
And only then will I be free

When I crossed that Line,
into freedom,
I was without,
my family.
I’ll keep crossing that line to freedom,
Until we all are free.
I’ll keep crossing that line to freedom,
Until we all are free.

4.
I am Moses, the Liberator.
Moses, the liberator.
You keep on going or die!

When I took on this role
of liberator,
I said to myself
“There’s one of two things I have a right to,
One of these things:
My liberty or my death.”

If I cannot have one,
I would have the other.
For no man shall take me alive!

I am Moses,
stealer of slaves,
Moses, stealer of slaves.
I stole my mother,
father cousins, brothers.

We do not turn back.
We’ve come this far
and now you’re scared?
Well,

I’ll hold my revolver to the
space between your eyes,
Dogs yet baying in the midnight air,
Patter-rollers footsteps closing in.
What’s it gonna be, now?
Dead negroes tell no tales
You keep on going or die!
Keep on going.

If you’re tired, keep on going;
and if you’re scared, keep on going.
If you’re hungry, keep on going.
If you want to taste freedom, keep on going.
Set your mind to freedom and the promised land,
We shall be free

©2006. Nkeiru Okoye. All rights reserved. Do not copy or print without permission.

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