Apokalipsa i wojna secesyjna w poezji religijnych pieśni niewolniczych
The Apocalypse and the Civil War in the Poetry of Slave Spirituals

Author(s): Małgorzata Ziółek-Sowińska
Subject(s): Literary Texts, Poetry, Theology and Religion
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego
Keywords: The Apocalypse; the Lord of the Apocalypse; the Civil War; the Book of Revelation; freedom; slave spirituals
Summary/Abstract: Due to the horrors and evils of slavery blacks firmly believed in God’s promise of retribution against the wickedness and cruelty of those slaveholders who brutalized them. The Apocalypse exerted a powerful influence on slaves and was viewed as the Bible’s main argument that God denounced slavery and would come in a catastrophic event to judge those who mistreated blacks. The language of cosmic struggle between good and evil was vividly embraced by the poets of slave spirituals and themes of the end of time pervaded the texts of many songs. Slave spirituals reflect Apocalyptic thinking among blacks who viewed themselves as brave soldiers fighting on the side of Christ in the coming war of Armageddon. The paper explores how blacks perceived themselves as valiant soldiers fighting in the army of the Lord of the Apocalypse. We will see that slaves alluded to the belief in the inevitability of the military struggle over slavery and thus anticipated the Civil War.

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