Since the beginning of slavery blacks discovered in the Bible stories which provided not
only narratives and language to delineate the difficulty of being a slave, but also hope for
a better future in the afterlife. The Exodus was perceived as the Bible"s main argument
that God denounced slavery and would come in a catastrophic event to judge those
who mistreated blacks. This article is devoted to the exploration of the biblical figure of
Exodus as a recurring trope in selected lyrics of slave spirituals and spirituals recorded by
bluesmen. Scholars seem to agree that the Exodus is the migration narrative, but in this
article I seek to demonstrate that it may also represent the theme of going on a spiritual
journey to the other side in the hereafter or the end of time city the New Jerusalem.
Sznajderski Tadeusz.
