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“White planters used the Bible to justify slavery; Black people, held in bondage, used the spirituals to express their own beliefs in God, justice, and freedom. Frederick Douglass called the songs "a testimony against slavery, and a prayer to God for deliverance from chains.” — Henry Louis Gates Jr.
White planters used the Bible to justify slavery; Black people, held in bondage, used the spirituals to express their own beliefs in God, justice, and freedom. Frederick Douglass called the songs "a testimony against slavery, and a prayer to God for deliverance from chains.