The Promises of Scripture Were All for the Black People”
Sojourner Truth on the Blood of Abel and the Lamb
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 8205774 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Jeremy Schipper (0009-0001-0732-5938, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2024 |
| Volume | 92 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 130-139 |
| Publication date | 2024-11-13 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of the American Academy of Religion (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0002-7189 • E-ISSN: 1477-4585 |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1093/jaarel/lfae066 |
| OpenAlex | W4402077143 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 17 |
In a speech delivered on July 4, 1854, Sojourner Truth declared “the blood of one man, Abel, did not call from the ground in vain [Genesis 4:10]. The promises of Scripture were all for the black people.” Some recent biographers of Truth interpret this as a reference to the curse of Cain (Genesis 4:11–13), which, they contend, Truth calls down upon white people. Other scholars have shown how some nineteenth-century Black interpreters used the Cain and Abel story to explain white violence and hatred. Building on both lines of research, I argue that Truth typologically links Abel’s blood to the blood of the lamb in Revelation 7:14. In doing so, Truth is not only invoking the curse of Cain and providing an explanation for white hatred but also offering a scriptural promise for Black people
Beyond ethnicity
Sojourner Truth
The Mark of Cain and White Violence
Hide the Outcasts
Conjuring Culture
Thoughts and Sentiments on the Evil and Wicked Traffic of the Slavery and Commerce of the Human Species
Typology and Early American Literature
Sojourner Truth in Life and Memory
Exodus! Religion, Race, and Nation in Early Nineteenth-Century Black America
A Fire in the Bones
American Thought and Religious Typology
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |