Civil Rights in "The Promised Land"

Today's New York Times Travel Section has a long article about Chuck Berry's 1964 song "The Promised Land," in which the author, Steve Knopper, and his 15 year old daughter retrace Berry's travels from Norfolk, Virginia, to Los Angeles.  In the song's memorable opening lines:

I left my home in Norfolk, Virginia, California on my mind.

I straddled that Greyhound and rode him into Raleigh,

And on across Caroline.

Knopper points out two subtle references in the song to the Civil Rights movement.  First, there is the line, "We stopped in Charlotte but bypassed Rock Hill," which always puzzled me.  It is the only location in the song that isn't a major city, and the only one that is "bypassed."  Why even mention it, among all of the other cities where Berry's "poor boy" didn't stop?  According to Knopper (quoting Prof. Mark Burford of Reed College), it is a "sly" reference to the 1961 beating of John Lewis for opening a "whites only" door during a Freedom Ride.

The other reference was unmissable in 1964: "We had more trouble that turned into a struggle, half-way across Alabam."  The struggles in Alabama, of course, included the 1961 firebombing of a Greyhound Bus carrying Freedom Riders, and Bull Connor's cooperation with the KKK in the beating of Freedom Riders on another bus (this one Continental Trailways).

 

 

Adding to the poignancy, Berry wrote the song while he was in prison, where the authorities would not give him access to an atlas so that he could check the geography of his route from Virginia to the "Promised Land." Near the end, he sings "Swing low chariot, come down easy." 

Comments

[Alexander Tsesis]

Steve,
Thanks for this great post. Your commentary is very helpful for understanding the song.

I love the Chuck Berry version.

Here's the Grateful Dead version of the song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3UhWqfZUBo and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnZGrbRdpJA (second one start at 1:40)

[Ibrahim Gassama]

Thank you so much for this Steve.

Ibrahim