CCW's Mission in "Stand Up": Artistry on the Underground Railroad

By CCW's Artistic Director, Margaret Nomura Clark

We want to close out and commemorate Black History Month with a week of reflections on last summer’s Stand Up: Harriet Tubman Tour. This is the second of five posts.

One of our primary artistic objectives for the choristers was to experience the evolution and role of the spiritual in a nuanced and historically-situated way. We learned about how this genre has become commercialized and overlooked, but was a lifeline to freedom for the enslaved. Code Songs were sung to signal to the field workers that there was a train coming, and a chance to escape.


This was their channel of communication with each other, a way for them to continue to find hope and a purpose and was developed and created by the enslaved.


These songs are artifacts of the ingenuity that created the complex network of the Underground Railroad.

Linda Harris was a wonderful storyteller that brought the struggles of the enslaved to life and helped our students imagine what life was like for Harriet and the enslaved.

CSD and CCW singers also had a chance to share the code songs learned from Linda Harris at the Harriet Tubman Museum.


On Sunday, June 19th we honored Harriet Tubman in a ceremony at the Quaker Meeting House in Wilmington, DE through songs and readings. The focus of these presentations was on the power of the words and the significance of these songs for the Freedom Seekers and the enslaved.

As a way of commemorating this inaugural tour and highlighting our leadership in creating this tour, we commissioned Dr. Brandon Williams to write a piece and had the honor of having him there to work with all 150 singers and be present for its premiere.

Williams’ non-idiomatic style of writing paired with poet Zetta Elliott's text created the blend of cultural backgrounds that was represented in the room and on this tour.



“You Can Fly” is now published and available for purchase in SSA, SSAT, SSAB, or SSATB arrangements.

The festival concert was a mix of youth choirs from different backgrounds performing together, alongside the St. Thomas Gospel Choir in their hometown church.


Students witnessed the vocal power and emotional performance of the Choir School of Delaware and the St. Thomas Choir and had the chance join them in song at the end of the concert.


Artistic excellence in singing is ultimately the combination of integrity and technique with heart and soul. This results in a connection with the listener and meaningful impact. Integrity and technique are taught every day in CCW's rehearsals and musicianship classes, but this tour gave our singers the chance to engage deeply with the music they were performing with their hearts and souls, and this emotional connection allowed them to reach a new level of artistic excellence on this tour.

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