Summary
Albert J. Raboteau says that belief in an afterlife gave slaves a weapon against their oppressors.
Transcript
oppressors.
The notion of a salvation afterlife, of course, took on a great deal of importance, and it took on a great deal of importance not just as a kind of a balm in Gilead for the slaves, but as another weapon against whites. Everyone who is praying to go to heaven ain’t going to heaven. That was a common slave saying, and among those who “ain’t going to heaven” are slave masters, especially evil slave masters.
