This text is part of the Teaching Hard History Text Library and aligns with Key Concepts 7, 9 and 10 and Essential Knowledge 15 and 19.
“Okay. Here’s our tie-breaker. Listen closely, teams.”
It was Friday in Mr. Brook’s fifth grade music class, and a heated game of “Name That Tune” was underway. Juni’s team, the Musical Dinosaurs, had been in the lead. She and her best friend Michael usually led their teams to victory, but today the Angel Rockets had tied the game when they guessed right on “This Land Is Your Land.”
Mr. Brooks started the tie-breaking song. After just five notes, Juni knew it.
“‘John Brown’s Body,’” she whispered excitedly. She thought about the parade through Charleston and her great-great-grandma.
“No. I’m pretty sure this is ‘The Battle Hymn of the Republic,’” Michael argued.
“Michael, I am 100 percent sure about this.”
“Me too!”
They were running out of time.
“Just write them both down.”
Grumbling, Michael scribbled both answers on the paper.
“Let’s see if we have a winner. The Angel Rockets answered—” Mr. Brooks unfolded the paper. “‘The Battle Hymn of the Republic.’ You’re right!” The Angel Rockets cheered.
“And the Musical Dinosaurs answered...‘John Brown’s Body’ and ‘The Battle Hymn of the Republic.’ You’re right, too!”
Juni was confused, but she knew Mr. Brooks would explain.
“Both songs use the same tune,” he told the class. “The song started out as a hymn that people sang in church. Then soldiers who learned the song at home began singing it when they marched. They changed the words to ‘John Brown’s Body.’ During the Civil War, Union troops sang it so often someone wrote new words again, this time to encourage the soldiers. It became ‘The Battle Hymn of the Republic.’”
Juni was surprised. She didn’t know the song had other words. But she didn’t have much time to think about it.
“It’s a tie!” Mr. Brooks went on. “We’ll continue this game next week! Same teams, different songs.”
As the kids walked back to their classroom, Michael had a question.
“Juni, what is ‘John Brown’s Body?’ I’ve never heard of that before, and I know a lot of songs.”
“It’s a song my grandma taught me. It’s an important song to my family. If you want, come over after school today I can tell you about it.”
“Cool,” The best friends high-fived, and Michael took a sharp left into the boys’ bathroom.
***
“Dad! I’m home! And Michael’s with me.” Juni and Michael burst into Juni’s house with the energy of a thousand Fridays.
“Come on up! I’ll show you something awesome!”
Juni grabbed a medium-sized wooden box from under the coffee table. The box was old and smelled like paper and cedar. They set the box on the kitchen table and opened it. It was full of pictures, letters and newspaper clips that had turned brown from age. Some papers were torn, and others looked like they might fall apart if you breathed on them. Juni dug through the papers until she found what she was looking for. She pulled out a black and white picture of a row of black soldiers in uniform.
“This was my great-great-great-grandpa.” Juni pointed to the tallest man in the row. “He fought and died in the Civil War.” Michael noticed how perfectly the men stood— each one dressed exactly like the others, all of them holding their rifles at the same angle. He noticed the life in their eyes, something he’d never noticed before when he’d seen pictures like this from history. Maybe it was different because this was his best friend’s family.
“His name was Juniper. That’s where my name comes from.”
Juni pulled out another photo. It showed two little girls in skirts holding roses. They were not smiling, which wasn’t strange for people in old pictures. But they seemed to have a sadness in their eyes.
“What’s this picture?” Michael asked.
“This is a picture of America’s first Memorial Day,” Juni explained. “After the Civil War, thousands of black people marched in Charleston to remember the soldiers and family members who died in the war. My great-great-grandma and her sister led the march with hundreds of other children and sang war songs.”
Juni pulled out one final piece of paper. It was a tattered sheet of music that looked like it had been ripped from an old hymnal.
“‘John Brown’s Body’ composed by William Steffe. John Brown died that the slave might be free, but his soul is marching on,” Michael read. When Juni started to sing, Michael joined her. He knew the tune.
John Brown died that the slave might be free
John Brown died that the slave might be free
But his soul is marching on!
Glory, Glory! Hallelujah!
Glory, Glory! Hallelujah!
Glory, Glory! Hallelujah!
His soul is marching on.
“Juni, thanks for showing me this. I had never heard of ‘John Brown’s Body’ or this history of Memorial Day before today. It’s amazing that your family was part of this.”
“Pretty crazy, huh?” Juni placed the pictures and music back into the box and put the box back into the living room. “Race you to the oak tree!”
“You’ll never win!”
As they ran out the door, Michael hummed, “His soul is marching on.”