Gee I hope none of these are dulicates-- but they all will eventually get sorted out and moved over to the permathread anyhow.

59. CLICK HERE
Black Spirituals: A Theological Interpretation, by James H. Cone. "Contrary to popular opinion, the spirituals are not evidence that black people reconciled themselves with human slavery. On the contrary, they are black freedom songs which emphasize black liberation as consistent with divine revelation. For this reason it is most appropriate for black people to sing them in this 'new' age of Black Power. And if some people still regard the spirituals as inconsistent with Black Power and Black Theology, that is because they have been misguided and the songs misinterpreted. There is little evidence that black slaves accepted their servitude because they believed God willed their slavery. The opposite is the case. The spirituals speak of God's liberation of black people, his will to set right the oppression of black slaves despite the overwhelming power of white masters. . . . And if 'de God dat lived in Moses' time is jus de same today,' then that God will vindicate the suffering of the righteous black and punish the unrighteous whites for their wrongdoings.

"LARGE amount of scholarship has been devoted to the music and poetry of the black spiritual but little has been written about its theology. Apparently most scholars assume that the value of the black spiritual lies in its artistic expression and not its theological content, which could be taken to mean that blacks can "sing and dance good" but cannot think. For example, almost everyone agrees with W. E. B. DuBois' contention that "the Negro is....."

James H. Cone is Associate Professor of Theology at Union Theological Seminary in New York. He is known as one of the leading spokesmen for a Black Theology and is the author of Black Theology and Black Power (1969) and A Black Theology of Liberation (1970). He is also the author of the forthcoming [sic] book, The Spirituals and the Blues (1972).