African-American women sang the following songs at a WCTU organizing meeting in the South:
Oh, take me in the Life Boat. The thunders are rolling, and bursting in the cloud, Take me in the Life Boat, take me in the Life Boat, Another was: Oh, see the Temperance Engine, a heaving now in sight, The fare is cheap, and all can go, both rich and poor are there. |
—Excerpt from Sallie Chapin, "Our Southern Letter,"
Union Signal, 26 April 1883
3. In the first song what do the lifeboat and the storm symbolize?
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4. Why would the phrases "both rich and poor are there" and "no second class on board this train" appeal especially to African Americans?
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