Remembering Elizabeth Cotton

I heard her before I saw her.
She was black; she was old; she was sitting alone underneath a tree. And, she was singing.
  "Freight train, freight train, run so fast. Please don't tell what train I'm on. They won't know what route I'm going."
I knew the song was about the historic legacy of the underground railroad which highlighted the Canadian destination of freedom for many African-American slaves.
The old banjo-playing women's rendition of Freight Train was haunting. I sat down on the grass and listened.

"When I'm dead and in my grave.
No more good times here I crave
Place the stones at my head and feet and tell them all I've gone to sleep

When I die, oh bury me deep
Down at the end of old Chestnut Street
So I can hear old Number Nine
As she comes rolling by"

I was the only one to clap. I was the only one there. 
The old lady placed her banjo down, stretched out her right hand and said, "Hello, my name is Elizabeth Cotton."
Shaking her hand, I quickly pointed out she sang the song like she owned it.
"I do," was the answer.
Elizabeth Cotton wrote both the lyrics and the music to Freight Train while working as a domestic for the son of Charles Seeger, the brilliant musicologist and founder of America's foremost folk music family.
The Seeger children were Elizabeth's charges. The kids and the nanny often struck a deal: The children would do the dishes and Elizabeth would sit at the kitchen table and sing. One night, as she often did, Elizabeth reached back into her childhood. She remembered making up a song. She called it Freight Train.   
While Elizabeth had agreed to perform at the mid 60s Mariposa Folk Festival at Toronto Island, she preferred a tree to a stage. Elizabeth liked a small audience. It was understood. After all, her country had lost its innocence - freedom fighters John F. Kennedy had just died, while Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was on what was about to become his last crusade for equality.
Meeting the old lady was special. I not only had the undivided attention of an American blues and folk legend, I experienced firsthand an enslaved people's continuous call for freedom.
Throughout the years, I kept my eye on Elizabeth. She continued to perform into the 70s and 80s, won many awards, including a Grammy, while she often brought her music to folk festivals throughout North America. In keeping with her style, Elizabeth would find a tree.
Elizabeth Cotton died in 1987. She was 92.
I often think of Elizabeth and, on occasion, I find myself humming Freight Train.
I thought of her today when Oak Ridges MPP Frank Klees send a reminder that today marks the 78th birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King. Jr.
Martin's Day is being celebrated in more than 100 countries around the world, Mr. Klees stressed. Of course, the celebration commemorates Dr. King's work and legacy in support of the movement inspired by his life and death. Along with the likes of Ms Cotton and Mr. Kennedy, Dr. King promoted inter-racial harmony based on the principles of human rights, equality and freedom.

P.S.
Some people are simply destined to live on freedom's path — Elizabeth Cotton's Freight Train acknowledges the slaves fleeing to Canada. She worked for Charles Seeger whose brother, Alan Seeger, authored I Have A Rendezvous with Death, which was John F. Kennedy's favorite poem.
I join Mr. Klees in reminding everyone today is a day for Canadians to reflect on the richness of our multicultural society.
I'll include Elizabeth Cotton in my remembering.

Comments

[Scott]

Bringing up the slave trade.... Isn't that "anti-American"?

[Scott]

Everyone should herald Elizabeth Cotton and the beautiful lessons she gave us all: ....Multiculturalism not ethnocentrism......Peace Not Apartheid...Thankyou, Freedom Fighters...Thankyou.