Center for Historical Research
Past is Prologue |
The Selling of Joseph
Many people will remember the Biblical story of how Joseph was sold by his brothers into slavery. Joseph rises up from slavery, gains the favor of the Pharaoh, and finally stands in judgment over them. His brothers fear his vengeance, but he forgives them and all is reconciled.
One of the first pronouncements against slavery in the United States was by Samuel Sewell of Massachusetts (1652-1730), who referred to the Biblical story of Joseph in his attempts to defend blacks and Indians against this evil practice by appeals to logic, the Bible, moral feelings, and common sense. A sampling of some of his Biblical appeals are:
God hath given the earth unto the sons of Adam, Psalms 115:16.
And hath made of One Blood, all Nations of Men, for to dwell on all the face of the Earth.
He that stealeth a Man and Selleth him, or if he is found in his hand, he shall surely be put to Death. Exod.21.16
Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the Law and the Prophets. Matt.7.12.
The radical abolitionist, John Brown, facing the gallows in 1857, gave one of the most eloquent defenses of the abolitionist movement in American History. From his point of view, the bloodguilt was now upon the entire nation and God would scourge this country with blood unless it would repent of and atone for its crimes against humanity. His martyrdom inspired a famous song which later became "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" during the subsequent American Civil War.
As we enter the 21th century, it is interesting how many expressions of regret and desire for expiation and atonement are being uttered in regard to the tragedies of the passing century and one of the greatest issues in American history--the slave trade. The most recent incident that has come to my ears has to do with international expressions of regret and desire for atonement and reconciliation on the part of Africans.
In the month of July, 1999, distinguished Afro-American visitors from Illinois were greeted by the President of Ghana, Africa, who shared a film in which an aged African king apologized to Afro-Americans for the role black Africans played in the American slave trade. Like the brothers of Joseph, who sold their own kin to Pharaoh out of envy and greed, Various African nations did the same thing in selling those of us of African descent to European traders.
For those who remember the Biblical story, the slave, Joseph , arrives in Egypt prior to a great famine which threatens the world. Through his God-given powers of soothsaying, he warns the Pharaoh of the impending crisis and is placed in charge of managing a food bank so that the people will not starve when the land is barren. His administration is overwhelmingly successful and he is second only to Pharaoh is his rank, station, and power. When he reveals himself to his brothers who have come to beg for food, they are terrified that he will take vengeance upon them. but, he removes their fears by saying it was not them, but God who sent him to the land of Goshen to save the lives of the people.
Perhaps this kind of thing is what the Danish Theologian, Soren Kierkegaard, meant when he talked about the "teleological suspension of the ethical." Man's inhumanity to man seems unforgivable in human terms; but, for those who believe human codes of morality are overridden by a higher law, all things are possible for those who have faith.
So, what shall we of African heritage say to our hungry brothers who sold us into bondage and delivered us into the hands of Pharaoh to be brought to this Land of Goshen to be despised as the hewers of wood and bearers of water, as the shepherds who tended the herds were despised by Pharaoh--until the coming of the world famine.
Shall we, who have watered this land with our blood, give to our hungry brethren who approach us the bread with which, because of our labors, feed the very earth. Jesus taught us to pray--when we pray--in the following way:
Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.
God will judge us in same manner in which we judge others. If we do not forgive them, He will not forgive us for our transgressions. We cannot bear both the unforgiving laws of men and those commanded by an angry God.. So, shall we embrace the faith of those abolitionists among the Founding Fathers of America that those who came to this land already in bondage have, by a crude but divine emigration, actually found deliverance here for ourselves and for the world? Is this the Promised Land?
The revelations revealed by the king balance the books because of the tendency of many to blame the slave trade on white Europeans alone without acknowledging the roles of Africans and Asians in promoting the same thing. Perhaps, once we acknowledge what happened in the past as a universal human tragedy not to repeated in the future, the human family will start to be whole again as was the case with Joseph. In the story of Joseph, he and his brothers go their separate ways, but with a new understanding and with mutual affection and respect. Maybe Countee Cullen put it best on behalf on some Afro-Americans in his wistful poem entitled "Heritage"
What is Africa to me:
opper sun or scarlet sea,
ungle star or jungle track,
Strong bronzed men or regal black
Women from whose loins I sprang
hen the birds of Eden sang?
One three centuries removed
From the scenes his fathers loved,
Spicy grove, cinnamon tree,
What is Africa to me? |
Cullen, writing during the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920's, tries to reconcile his Christian conscience with the dilemmas and trials his African heritage placed upon him in America. Yet, his spiritual strivings seem parallel to that of the Biblical Joseph, as in Cullen's poem, "Yet do I Marvel"
I doubt not God is good, well-meaning, kind,
And did He stoop to quibble could tell why
The little buried mole continues blind,
Why flesh that mirrors Him must some day die,
Make plain the reason tortured Tantalus
Is baited by the fickle fruit, declare
If merely brute caprice doom Sisyphus
To struggle up a never-ending stair
Inscrutable His ways are, and immune
To catechism by a mind too shrewd
With petty cares to slightly understand
What awful brain compels His awful hand.
Yet do I marvel at this curious thing:
To make a poet black and bid him sing!
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The best outcome of a tragedy is when the suffering hero gains something of such immeasurable value that all the past suffering is requited and justified. For Cullen, as with Joseph, it was the best development of himself which turned out to be one with the best development of this world. So let it be with us all. I understand that plans are in progress to offer qualified American students of whatever race, gender, or background to participate in a cultural, educational exchange with universities in Africa. For those Americans of African heritage who participate in what--for them--may be a very special pilgrimage, I cannot think of a better thought at this moment than that of Countee Cullen’s outpouring of spirituality and love:
And yet I cannot think that this my faith,
My winged joy, my pride, my utmost mirth
Centered in you, shall ever taste of death,
Or perish from the false, forgetting earth.
You are with time, as wind and weather are,
As is the sun, and every nailed’ star.
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I have access to the video in which the old king talks of things that happened long ago and far away. Perhaps it will be of interest to our museums and schools which take the problem of addressing issues regarding ethnic studies and multicultural perspectives as one of the highest priorities during the next millennium of American education. Meanwhile, in the years to come, I hope we can somehow transcend the tragedies of the past, put an end to the bitterness we have all felt and go on to help make each tomorrow a better world than it was today.
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Updated:
January 3, 2003
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