Take my people with me (DGLS)

I been walkin’ with my face turned to the sun
Weight on my shoulders, a bullet in my gun
Oh, I got eyes in the back of my head
Just in case I have to run
I do what I can when I can while I can for my people
While the clouds roll back and the stars fill the night 

 

That’s when I’m gonna stand up

Take my people with me

Together we are going to a brand-new home

Far across the river

Can you hear freedom calling, calling me to answer?

Gonna keep on keepin’ on 

I can feel it in my bones 

 

Early in the mornin’ before the sun begins to shine
We’re gonna start movin’ towards that separating line
I’m wading through muddy waters
You know I got a made-up mind
And I don’t mind if I lose any blood on the way to salvation
And I’ll fight with the strength that I got until I die 

 

Refrain 

 

And I know what's around the bend 

Might be hard to face 'cause I'm alone 

And I just might fall 

But Lord knows I tried 

Sure as the stars fill up the sky 

 

Refrain 

 

I go to prepare a place for you (4x) 

To hear Cynthia Erivo’s song Stand Up! performed by DGLS, click on the video below. For more information about the Douglas family, click here.

Image source 1:  Leo & Diane Dillon, illustration, The People Could Fly (by Virginia Hamilton, 2004), 
http://commonreads.com/book/?isbn=9780375824050

Image source 2:  James Tissot, Moses Sees the Promised Land from Afar (ca. 1896-1904), 
https://thejewishmuseum.org/collection/26400-moses-sees-the-promised-land-from-afar/
Image source 3:  William H. Johnson, Harriet Tubman and the Combahee River Raid (1945), 
https://www.fdmuseum.org/event/harriet-tubman-and-the-combahee-river-raid/harriet-tubman-1945-william-h-johnson-smithsonian-museum-of-american-art/
Video source