The Cross and the Lynching Tree

by James H. Cone

“The Gospel of Mary Brown,” illustrated with a photo of a black Madonna, holding a black baby in her arms. In Du Bois’s story, obviously a retelling of Luke’s Gospel account of Jesus’ birth, Mary is black, living in a cabin by the creek, when a woman says to her ( using the words of the angel Gabriel), “Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favor with God.” Then Mary reads the Magnificat from an “Old Book,” citing the exact words of Luke 1:46, 48: “My soul doth magnify the Lord. . . . For He hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden, for behold, from henceforth generations shall call me blessed. . . .” The child is called Joshua, the Hebrew name for Jesus, and “His skin was black as velvet.” “And the child grew and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon him.” When he is twelve, his mother finds him “sitting in the midst of the deacons, both hearing them and asking them questions: Why were colored folk poor? Why were they afraid?” Joshua works on the plantation—plowing, picking and hoeing cotton, and driving mules. He soon learns to be a carpenter. Whites become exceedingly angry when they hear Joshua preach: “Blessed are the poor; blessed are they that mourn; blessed are the meek; blessed are the merciful; blessed are they which are persecuted. All men are brothers and God is the Father of all.” Whites complain bitterly: “He’s putting ideas into niggers’ heads.” “Behold, he stirreth up the people.” Then “they seized him and questioned ...