COVE

I chose to do a picture of the slave bible, because I think it is a very difficult but interesting topic to discuss. The slave bible was a bible given to the slaves that cut out a lot of the Old Testament and the revised Bible was given to the slaves to make them obey their masters and never question if their masters were doing the right things or not. The literary texts that I chose to correlate this to is the poem written by Frances Ellen Watkins Harper called, “Bible Defense of Slavery”. Her poem talks about the reverend and how he is defending slavery and how individuals are using the bible to defend slavery and the owning of African Americans. One line that really stuck out to me is the line, “ A “reverend” man, whose light should be the guide of age and youth, brings to the shrine of slavery the sacrifice of truth!” (Harper). I think these few lines are very impactful to the idea of individuals defending slavery and I think it correlates a great deal with the slave bible and how reverends would lie to get slaves to obey their masters’ commands. Another line that stuck out to me is the line, “Let sorrow breathe in every tone, in every strain ye raise; insult not God’s majestic throne With th’ mockery of praise.” (Harper). I think this line really solidifies the idea of the individuals who are defending slavery with the bible are wrong and should not act as though they are truly following him and praise him, because their beliefs are against his wishes. I think these two pieces really complement each other because it is a very sad fact that the slave bibles existed, but I think the poem really adds to the idea of defending slavery with biblical stories. 

work cited 

Works CitedLittle, Becky. “Why Bibles given to Slaves Omitted Most of the Old Testament.” HISTORY, 11 Dec. 2018, www.history.com/news/slave-bible-redacted-old-testament.Martin, Michel. “Slave Bible from the 1800s Omitted Key Passages That Could Incite Rebellion.”

NPR.org, 9 Dec. 2018, www.npr.org/2018/12/09/674995075/slave-bible-from-the-1800s-omitted-key-....“Select Parts of the Holy Bible for the Use of the Negro Slaves in the British West-India Islands.” Wikipedia, 14 Sept. 2023,
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Select_Parts_of_the_Holy_Bible_for_the_use_of_the_Negro_Slaves_in_the_British_West-

India_Islands#/media/File:Select_Parts_of_the_Holy_Bible_for_use_of_the_Negro_Slaves.jpg. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.