appeal like Du Bois's was pointless but that the entire history of black religion, particularly as characterized in the “sorrow songs,” had contributed to black people's passivity and submission in the context of slavery and oppression. Bitter was the day When… …only in the sorrow songs Relief was found— Yet no relief, But merely humble life and silent death Eased by a Name That hypnotized the pain away— O, precious Name of Jesus in that day! That day is past. I know full well now Jesus could not die for me— That only my own hands, Dark as the earth, Can make my earth-dark body free.20
