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The Anti-slavery Harp: A Collection of Songs for Anti-slavery Meetings cover

The Anti-slavery Harp: A Collection of Songs for Anti-slavery Meetings

Chapter 45: YOUR BROTHER IS A SLAVE.
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About This Book

A compilation of abolitionist songs and lyric pamphlets intended for anti-slavery gatherings, offering moral appeals, narratives of suffering, and calls to collective action. Poems dramatize the anguish of enslaved mothers, the fate of separated families, and the experiences of fugitives guided by the North Star, while urging political and religious solidarity against slavery. Several pieces adapt their words to familiar popular airs to facilitate communal singing, and the collection blends emotional testimony, exhortation, and patriotic imagery to mobilize audiences for emancipation.

YOUR BROTHER IS A SLAVE.

O weep, ye friends of Freedom, weep!
Shout liberty no more;
Your harps to mournful measures sweep,
Till slavery’s reign is o’er.
O, furl your star-lit thing of light—
That banner should not wave
Where vainly pleading for his right,
Your brother toils—a Slave!
O pray, ye friends of Freedom,
For those who toil in chains,
Who lift their fettered hands to-day
On Carolina’s plain!
God is the hope of the Oppressed;
His arm is strong to save;
Pray, then, that freedom’s cause be blest,
Your brother is a Slave!
O toil, ye friends of freedom, toil!
Your mission to fulfil,—
That Freedom’s consecrated soil
Slaves may no longer till;
Ay, toil and pray from deep disgrace
Your native land to save;
Weep o’er the miseries of your race,
Your Brother is a slave!