Wade in the water
Wade in the water, children
Wade in the water
God’s gonna trouble the water.
Water is an important image in African American spirituals. Deep River finds hope on the other side of the river. Go Down, Moses is a spiritual of deliverance in which Pharaoh’s armies were drowned in the Red Sea, and Harriet Tubman is said to have sung Wade in the Water to remind her Underground Railroad passengers how to evade the slave catchers’ dogs.
Water was an inescapable aspect of the slave experience. Africans began their horrifying journey by traveling across the Atlantic Ocean, crammed like cattle in the holds of slave ships.
If they survived the voyage, , they were shipped up river and down to plantations and farms where they would spend the rest of their lives in bondage.
- The Ohio River was a dividing line between enslavement and freedom.
- Escape via the Underground Railroad sometimes began with refuge in watery southern swamps.
- And a century later police infamously used water as a weapon, turning high-powered fire hoses against demonsters demanding the right to vote.
- Most recently Georgia made it illegal for anyone (other than a poll worker), to give a bottle of water to people standing in line to vote.
Join with Juneteenth Dancers
Sunday, June 11
Smale Park (Beside the suspension Bridge)
2-4 pm
On June 11, 2023, join Juneteenth Cincinnati in recognizing the significant role of water in the 400-year history of African enslavement and the quest for freedom with a symbolic dance to acknowledge the role water has played in “enslavement” and “freedom” in the America’s. We will all wear white with an accent of color if we choose (sash, a scarf, jewelry, etc.).
In Cincinnati we will dance along the river (or across the Purple Bridge) .
Details will be posted on this website
MAKE IT UNIVERSAL
We are inviting freedom lovers outside the Cincinnati area to join us virtually by performing simultaneous dances over, beside or near a body of water in your area and tape the performance.
Water is everywhere.
Join wherever you are.
It can be the Atlantic Ocean, the Mississippi River, the Ohio River, the Cape Fear River, the Chattahoochee River, Lake Erie, Lake Pontchartrain, the Caribbean, or the Pacific..
Join us in the moving tribute to water on June 11 2-4 pm
If you are not near a body of water, get creative. A fountain, a tub of water……… let’s talk.
Practice Wade at Home!!
juneteenthcincinnati@gmail.com
513-631-7289
Short Video Clips from 2021
