Bare feet, bent backs, bruised flesh – spirits unbroken.
Their prayers forged golden chains of truth that were invisible to their oppressors, but kept them connected with their Intercessor. These bonds of love helped them overcome hate with hope.
Songs on their hearts kept their humanity anchored in heights only reachable by God. From up above their heads, they received visions that defied massa’s attempts at devaluation.
“I got shoes, you got shoes,
All o’ God’s chillun got shoes!”
Can’t you hear the derisive chuckles?
“Negro, you ain’t got no shoes!”
Without missing a cotton boll-picking beat, the field hand said,
“I might not have shoes on my feet, but I’m wearing them in my mind.”
One of them could read just enough, and some of them sorted through just enough of the slaveholder’s sermons, for all of them to get shoe’d up “with the preparation of the gospel of peace” (Ephesians 6:15, NKJV). What Paul wrote as a metaphor, they applied as a down payment.
“I got a harp, you got a harp,
All o’ God’s chillun got a harp!”
Despite state-sponsored illiteracy, Africans enslaved in America read themselves into Psalm 149:3 – “Let them praise His name with the dance; Let them sing praises to Him with the timbrel and harp!”
Then they read themselves into Revelation 15:2 –
“And I saw something like a sea of glass mingled with fire, and those who have the victory over the beast, over his image and over his mark and over the number of his name, standing on the sea of glass, having harps of God.”
Since they saw their future selves singing the songs of Moses the emancipator, they decided to get tuned up ahead of time (Revelation 15:3).
Why shouldn’t they be among those standing on the sea of glass? Why shouldn’t they be among those playing strings? After all, they are the ones whose artistic memories brought the banjo across the Middle Passage!
The enslaved resolved that they would overcome Revelation’s beastly powers through faith in the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29). Their earthly lives might be cut short, but the Lamb was slain before the foundation of this world so they could live forever in the next (Revelation 13:8).
“I got wings, you got wings,
All o’ God’s chillun got wings!”
You might argue that the Bible doesn’t say that humans will ever be given wings, but enslaved Africans in America saw the parallel between themselves and the Hebrews under Egyptian bondage. They read God’s past actions into their futures:
“You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to Myself” (Exodus 19:4, NKJV).
When they heard about the 10 plagues that fell on Egypt in Exodus, and the seven plagues prophesied to fall upon oppressors and blasphemers in Revelation, enslaved Africans in America were looking for God to swoop in and fly them to freedom.
They were anxious for the abundant life promised by Jesus in John 10:10, because they already experienced the thief’s theft, murder, and destruction. They could already taste the blessings of God as listed by the Psalmist:
“Who satisfies your mouth with good things,
So that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s” (Psalm 103:5, NKJV).
After generations of waiting on the Lord, they were ready to “mount up with wings as eagles” (Isaiah 40:31). They were like the woman running from the dragon in Revelation 12 – praying for “two wings of a great eagle” to whisk them away to the wilderness if that’s where freedom could be found (Revelation 12:14).
“I got a robe, you got a robe,
All o’ God’s chillun got robes!”
Frederick Douglass’s autobiography, along with many other sources, described how roughly and scantily clad enslaved people often were. As a child, Douglass was rationed an oversized shirt made of burlap. This would be his entire wardrobe until allotment day came around about six months later. If the shirt became ripped or worn out, they usually had to go naked until next allotment. They weren’t given blankets, so young Douglass fit as much of himself as possible into a burlap sack that had been emptied of cornmeal.
Enslaved Africans in America heard about Jesus hosting a wedding party. He had a big house, with a big table, and apparently a big closet. He wanted His party full, so kept inviting more people as long as there was more space and food. His messengers made several trips to invite everyone willing to come – including the poor, the sick, and the outcast.
There was no admission fee. You didn’t need an exclusive club membership. You didn’t have to worry about the dress code, because the only rule was that you had to wear one of the robes Jesus supplied. One fool got kicked out because he liked his own clothes better than what Christ had in his closest (Matthew 22:1-14).
Enslaved people were robbed of modesty and warmth on a daily basis, so figures of speech about the filthy rags of self-righteousness didn’t take much imagination (Isaiah 64:6). They were imprisoned in squalor and scorned for being dirty.
They felt the shame of standing shabbily dressed in a courtroom before God and man. The devil himself was at their right hand as the prosecuting attorney (Zechariah 3:1-7). They’d gladly trade in what they had for Jesus’ “robe of righteousness” (Isaiah 61:10).
They shouted “Amen! Alleluia!” when invited to wear “fine linen, clean and bright” to “the marriage supper of the Lamb!” (Revelation 19:1-9).
As James Cone said, “freedom is eschatological. It is the anticipation of freedom, a vision of a new heaven and a new earth.” Eschatology, the study of end times, helped the enslaved transcend their “meager attainment in history” (God of the Oppressed, 11). This gave them what Walter Brueggemann called “prophetic imagination,” which empowered their inner selves to live beyond the physical limits set by the enslavers.
Ev’rybody talkin’ ’bout heab’n ain’t goin’ dere
The double-veiled subversion of this line gave the enslaved enough plausible deniability to sing it around massa. Slaveholding Christianity’s dualistic gospel preached that you could liberate the soul while the shackling the body. It was also focused on individual piety with little regard for systemic sin.
They thought their slaves were just rehearsing the internalized lessons of not stealing food from massa or cheating him out of a hard day’s work.
What massa didn’t realize was that he or she was the punchline in a theopoetic joke! White Christians saw themselves as the Christians. They were the ones who defined theological terms and decided who was orthodox and who could be saved. They were the ones talking loudest about heaven while subjecting others to a living hell.
Perhaps the composers of this spiritual heard it preached that “judgment begins at the house of God” (1 Peter 4:17).
Maybe these “negroes” were inspired by Matthew 7:21-23. Jesus said some people will cry out to him “Lord, Lord,” in the last days, but He will reply “I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!”
While Black folks were in Matthew, someone noticed that Jesus called out the scribes and Pharisees over and over again in chapter 23. They were talkin’ bout heaven but blocking people from getting in at the same time! They were training overseas missionaries and making their converts into children of hell (Matthew 23:13, 15)!
Then I can imagine them flipping the pages to Matthew 25:31-46. The goats in the parable sounded like religious folks. They were shocked that they weren’t going “dere.” They seemed to believe they were living good lives.
They professed their faith in Christ, but they were either indifferent or hateful toward His image bearers. It seems that the reason Jesus will tell some people “I never knew you” is that they never knew him. They never thought He would be disguised as those they despised.
I’m goin’ to walk all ovah God’s Heab’n!
I’m goin’ to play all ovah God’s Heab’n!
I’m goin’ to shout all ovah God’s Heab’n!
I’m goin’ to fly all ovah God’s Heab’n!
There were laws against enslaved Africans in America reading, writing, playing percussion, gathering in groups, having unsupervised worship services, walking outside of the plantation without massa’s written permission, and so much more.
After having restrictions on every detail of their lives in slavery, they would be free at last! They would exercise all their senses, limbs, and talents of their whole selves for the very first time. Their imaginations started exploring every corner of heaven while they were yet on Earth.
It’s like the angel told John, “Come up here, and I will show you things which must take place after this” (Revelation 4:1).
Like the Apostle Paul, they may have wondered whether it was outer-body or inner space travel, but they saw and heard things beyond their entrapment (2 Corinthians 12:1-4). They were getting the advance view of heavenly places (Ephesians 2:6).
Half the story might not have been told, but they started inventing their own plot twists. Everything that was banned on the plantation was being planned for God’s mansions (John 14:1-3; Revelation 21:9-21).
