Through the sun, the whip, the humiliation, the burden of work, the malaria, the poor food, the wooden benches they stretched their aching bodies out on at night, the trauma of having their children sold away, the systematic rapes, the lynchings, the lack of rights, the hopelessness. No wonder the stories of the Bible spoke to them, drilled their way into the depths of their souls. The stories of the people of Israel were tales of an enslaved people. They must have identified completely. Faith and songs, prayers and cries.
