Work / monument · song

Go Down Moses

said by Lockwood to date from about 1853; heard at Fort Monroe in 1861; first published 1862 · 19th century

"Go Down Moses" is an African American spiritual drawn from the Book of Exodus, chapter 5, verse 1, where God sends Moses to Pharaoh to demand the release of the Israelites from bondage in Egypt. For the enslaved people of the United States the story was not only scripture.

Songs in history

Go Down Moses1861

See also

Cite this entry

APA: The Epoch Institute. (2026). Go Down Moses. In The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/go-down-moses
MLA: “Go Down Moses.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/go-down-moses. Accessed .
Chicago: The Epoch Institute. “Go Down Moses.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/go-down-moses.
Harvard: The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Go Down Moses’, The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/go-down-moses (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random entry ↻