The Talking Book: African Americans and the BibleYale University Press, 2008 M10 1 - 295 pages A striking narrative of the Bible’s central role in African-American history from the early days of slavery to the present The Talking Book casts the Bible as the central character in a vivid portrait of black America, tracing the origins of African-American culture from slavery’s secluded forest prayer meetings to the bright lights and bold style of today’s hip-hop artists. The Bible has profoundly influenced African Americans throughout history. From a variety of perspectives this wide-ranging book is the first to explore the Bible’s role in the triumph of the black experience. Using the Bible as a foundation, African Americans shared religious beliefs, created their own music, and shaped the ultimate key to their freedom—literacy. Allen Callahan highlights the intersection of biblical images with African-American music, politics, religion, art, and literature. The author tells a moving story of a biblically informed African-American culture, identifying four major biblical images—Exile, Exodus, Ethiopia, and Emmanuel. He brings these themes to life in a unique African-American history that grows from the harsh experience of slavery into a rich culture that endures as one of the most important forces of twenty-first-century America. |
From inside the book
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... South by bringing unprecedented numbers of slaves into member- ship in the church and by introducing even larger numbers to at least the rudiments of Christianity . " And though Baptists and Methodists would later be divided over ...
... South Carolina , was a congrega- tion of black Methodists founded in 1818 after several thousand blacks had withdrawn their memberships from white Methodist churches in Charleston following a dispute over a segregated burial ground . It ...
... South Carolina , Alabama , and Louisiana all enacted legislation making the education of slaves punishable by fine or imprisonment and completely prohibiting unsupervised slave gatherings and slave preaching.27 During a legisla- tive ...
... South Carolina's Sea Islands during the Civil War . At Christmas the slaves on Hilton Head Island invited her to preach for them . After her sermon , of which , she was convinced , her audience " understood very little , " the ...
... schools , and Sunday schools across the South after the end of the Civil War , Booker T. Washington noted , “ The great ambition of the older people was to try to learn to read the Bible before they died . THE TALKING BOOK 19.
Contents
1 | |
21 | |
3 The Good Book | 41 |
4 Exile | 49 |
5 Exodus | 83 |
6 Ethiopia | 138 |
7 Emmanuel | 185 |
Postscript | 240 |
Notes | 247 |
Subject Index | 275 |
Scripture Index | 284 |