Do You Know How Slavery Was Escapable? Do you know the history of Astronomy? Which a lot of western folk call astrology? The “Drinking Gourd” is a code name for the Big Dipper, a prominent constellation in the northern sky. The Big Dipper points to the North Star (Polaris), which does not move much in the night sky and always indicates true north. Enslaved Africans in the United States used the North Star as a guide to escape from slavery in the South to freedom in the North or Canada.