Were You There (When They Crucified My Lord)

This performance was apart of Longy’s Virtual Benefit Concert, Longy School of Music of Bard College
Credit:
Longy Conservatory Staff
Videographer Luke Zavara
Assistant videographer Jamin Burdick
Pianist, Gavin Rushing

An African American spiritual that probably predates the Civil War, "Were You There" was first published in William Barton's Old Plantation Hymns (1899).
“Negro Spirituals were much more than soulful songs sung in response to the evils of bondages, they were the audio portion of sophisticated systems of the Underground Railroad. Steal away to Jesus” literally means to follow the teachings of Christ, but it doesn’t take too much imagination to understand it as a call to meeting.  Listeners would sneak off to the woods to learn to read, plan an escape, or organize an uprising.  Nat Turner used this song to call out his followers in 1831 in Southampton, Virginia, when he led a short-lived revolt resulting in the deaths of 55 white people and the eventual execution of up to 200 slaves. Similarly, “Were You There” was a coded question that slaves would ask one another about the lynching of Nat Turner. Much more than a mental recollection of an event, when we sing Spirituals such as this one we remember to bring these historic events to make them apart of our story. To bring the past suffering and death of Christ into the present allows us to see the complete depiction of the passion of the Christ. When we claim the Christ who suffered on our behalf and stood in solidarity with our oppression, this we do too for our brothers and sisters in community.”

http://voices.pitt.edu/come-all-ye/ti/2006/Song%20Activities/03TamStealAway.html
https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/601f/fae4992691734bd3122a3fc5bb0a448abda7.pdf
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Were_You_There

Видео Were You There (When They Crucified My Lord) канала Danny Rivera