Slaves on their way to the Great House Farm usually sing wild, spontaneous songs that sound both joyful and sad. Douglass explains that he did not know the underlying meaning of these songs while he was a slave, but now understands that the songs are a bitter complaint about slavery.
These lines demonstrate the political activism of his poetry because it goes to show his perspective on America, while also protesting against American racism which was almost at its peak at the time he wrote this poem
