them and for them. The enslaved African sang because they saw the results of the cross—triumph over the principalities and powers of death, triumph over evil in this world. In concluding her reflection on the cross and suffering, Copeland states that the slaves liberated the cross from its abuse by whites. “By their very suffering and privation,” she writes, “black women under chattel slavery freed the cross of Christ. Their steadfast commitment honored the cross and the One who died for all and redeemed it from Christianity’s vulgar misuse.”[71]
