Drinking Gourd Elementary School |
||
|
||
 |
||
|
||
Passing knowledge from one to another
Our Name & Our History
About Our Name
Our school is named after the
song “Follow the Drinking Gourd” and
the tradition it is based upon. “Follow the Drinking Gourd” is
a song created by African-Americans who were enslaved in the United States.
The Drinking Gourd is the name they gave to the constellation Ursa Major,
which is also known as the Big Dipper.
The song “Follow the Drinking Gourd” is full of clues for how to
escape north. It is possible, by following the line of the “cup” part
of the Drinking Gourd, to find the North Star. People escaping slavery used this
star to find their way north to freedom. One part of the song tells that it is
a good idea to go “when the first quail calls.” The people were not
allowed to talk to each other while working in the fields, for fear they would
make escape plans. But they were allowed to sing, as it was thought to make them
work faster. So they invented songs like “Follow the Drinking Gourd.
From the song “Follow the Drinking Gourd” our school draws inspiration
to share our knowledge, to help each other grow to reach our fullest potential,
and to fight against oppression.
History
The Drinking Gourd Elementary School was founded in 1990 by Trisha Whitney. For the first ten years the school had one class of ten students ages 5-8.
The school became a non-profit (501 c3)organization in 1999. A year later the school was awarded a grant of over $500,000 by the Equinox Foundation to expand our program to include more students and a class for grades 3-5. This project, completed in 2001, allowed the school to add the Gathering Room, Office, storage space and the North Star classroom as well as expanding the Quail classroom.