March On

musical notation for _March On_
Midi version of the bar of music.


Way o-ver in the E-gypt land,
You shall gain the vic-to-ry,
Way over in the E-gypt land,
You shall gain the day.

Chorus:
March on, and you shall gain the victory,
March on, and you shall gain the day.


This verse is obviously a reassurance that Black folk should march on to gain victory, with the South as Egypt. In the Koran, Sura 28, Allah says to Moses, "Ye twain and they who shall follow you, shall gain the day." Allah is reassuring Moses, who has doubts about their escape from Egypt as he negotiates with Pharaoh. Did Du Bois know of the Koranic reference? Or is it an Africanism that resonated with Du Boius's African American imagination? It would seem the latter, as he makes this song a second-stage (Afro-American) song rather than an African one. Who was the "black and unknown bard" to make such a reference into a spiritual during slavery?


Chapter Title of Chapter Chapter's Song Significance of the song Author Title Comment
6 Of the Training of Black Men March On the second, Afro-American, stage of Black music Fitzgerald "The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam" Body a shame when souls can fly


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