Identification with Biblical Israel and the Exodus Story

    When Israel was in Egypt's land
    Let my people go.
    Oppressed so hard they could not stand
    Let my people go.
    Go down Moses, way down in Egypt land.
    Tell old Pharaoh,
    Let my people go.
    ("Go Down, Moses," Traditional African American Spiritual)

Although historians continue debating the extent and process by which Christianity took root among American slaves, it is evident during the late antebellum period that bondpeople were increasingly expressing themselves as Christians. Many embraced an emerging African American form of Christian liberation theology. Historian Albert Raboteau correctly observes that slaves did not merely adopt a form of Anglo-European Christianity; instead they developed Christianity to fit their own peculiar experience of enslavement in America (Johnson 1994, p. 9). Central to this understanding was the place of the biblical Israelites and their Egyptian enslavement.

Raboteau also observes the irony of this. European colonists had from the earliest period described their Atlantic migration as the exodus of new Israel out of Egypt. More than 250 years later, slaves identified themselves as the old Israel, held captive in Egypt, striving for freedom. The story was compelling for both groups with its dramatic arc: bondage under a pharaoh, a supernatural escape at the Red Sea, as well as the long period of wandering in the wilderness ended by arriving in the promised land. Slaves, however, might have found a more lasting message, what Raboteau calls "a typological map to reconnoiter the moral terrain of American society" (Johnson 1994, p. 10).

Often powerless to influence vital life-altering events including the separation of families through sale and myriad daily degradations designed to diminish self-worth, slaves could make sense of such horror through the Israelites' story. Suffering was something God required and, moreover, it was not an endless state, but one giving way to physical and spiritual freedom. It was a message that gained wide circulation. William Grimes (1784–1865), in writing his slave autobiography, described his northern escape in terms of Exodus (Nichols 1951, p. 559). The idea was evident throughout free black communities in the North. While never a slave, black political activist Maria Stewart (1803–1879) wrote in the 1830s, telling her black audience, "America, America, foul and indelible is thy stain! For in His own time He is able to plead our cause against you, and pour out upon you the ten plagues of Egypt" (Richardson 1987, pp. 39-40).

The Exodus story gained strength from its antebellum ubiquity. It was an archetypal myth. Not only did it explain the condition of slavery and provide hope for future freedom, but it formed a sense of community among slaves. As in the old Israel, slaves shared suffering and hope separate from their oppressors and were observant that their place was proper in God's eyes. Rather than use the story to inculcate change through revolt or insurrection, Raboteau contends that slaves focused on Moses's words, "Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord" (Johnson 1994, p. 12). Historian Michael Johnson reveals how some whites believed the story was used to inspire insurrection. Witnesses in the case of Denmark Vesey (1767–1822) testified Vesey read from Exodus and spoke of slaves delivered out of bondage from Egypt (2001, p. 968). Johnson contends such evidence did not necessarily reflect Vesey's theology as much as it suggested how others imagined him (Johnson 2001, p. 918). One can observe in both interpretations that antebellum slaves and slave owners appreciated the multiple layers and strength the Exodus story held in the context of American slavery.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Harding, Vincent. "The Uses of the Afro-American Past." In The Religious Situation, ed. Donald R. Cutter. Boston: Beacon, 1969.

Johnson, Michael P. "Denmark Vesey and His Co-Conspirators." The William and Mary Quarterly (October 2001): 915-976.

Johnson, Paul E., ed. African American Christianity: Essays in History. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1994.

Lawrence-McIntyre, Charshee Charlotte. "The Double Meanings of the Spirituals." Journal of Black Studies (June 1987): 379-401.

Nichols, Charles H., Jr. "The Case of William Grimes, the Runaway Slave." The William and Mary Quarterly (October 1951): 552-560.

Richardson, Marilyn, ed. Maria W. Stewart, America's First Black Woman Political Writer: Essays and Speeches. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1987.

                                        David F. Herr