An Ante-Bellum Sermon

Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1895

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Summary

Background

Poem Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Literary Devices

Symbols & Motifs

Moses

Throughout “An Ante-Bellum Sermon,” Dunbar invokes the story of Israel’s liberation as found in the Book of Exodus, and he particularly emphasizes Moses and Pharaoh. According to the Book of Exodus, the Israelites were slaves in Egypt for hundreds of years and had grown so numerous that the Egyptians feared an uprising. To prevent a revolt from happening, the Egyptian ruler ordered all Israel’s newborn male children be killed. Only the infant Moses was saved when his mother floated him in a basket down the river, where an Egyptian princess found him. Adopted by the princess, Moses lived as a prince of Egypt before killing an Egyptian overseer assaulting a Hebrew slave. Having angered the Pharaoh, Moses fled Egypt and was ultimately chosen by God to return and free the Israelites from slavery. With Moses as his mouthpiece, God sent 10 plagues against Egypt until the Egyptian Pharaoh released the Israelites. When Pharaoh changed his mind and attacked the freed slaves, God saved his people by parting the Red Sea for them to cross and by drowning Pharaoh and his army in that same sea.

The frequent allusions to Moses in the poem are incredibly significant. According to scripture, Moses spoke for God and performed God’s will, which was to free his persecuted race. For Black slaves, the story of Moses thus demonstrates God’s hatred of slavery and his power to deliver his people. Furthermore, Moses represents a kind of benevolent and impartial justice. He was not a slave and enjoyed privileges as a prince of an oppressive system, but he abandoned his comforts to free an enslaved race. In many ante-bellum sermons and spirituals, Moses came to symbolize Abraham Lincoln and more generally the Republican Party that fought for emancipation (Holladay, Meredith. “Religion, Race, and American History,” 2012). Accordingly, in “An Ante-Bellum Sermon,” Dunbar’s speaker assures his congregation that God “will sen’ some Moses / Fu’ to set his chillun free” (Lines 31-32); he later reiterates that Moses “is a-comin’” (Line 73) with “his powah” (Line 81) to set “us chillun free” (Line 82). Regardless of who this Moses figure might be, the preacher knows God sees his persecuted children and will swiftly send some type of Moses to free them.

Pharaoh

As the antagonist to Moses’ cause, Pharaoh is also a key symbol in Dunbar’s poem. Where Moses symbolizes the hope of freedom and the coming of God’s justice, Pharaoh symbolizes the cruelty of an oppressive and unjust system of governance. While white slave owners may see themselves as Christians, the poem’s preacher compares them to Pharaoh, the “wuss man evah bo’n” (Line 10) and a wicked pagan ruler. The preacher describes how Pharaoh made the Hebrew slaves work “in his co’n” (Line 12), a detail that is never mentioned in scripture. In fact, scripture describes the Hebrew slaves as working in the brick pits (Exodus 5). Thus, this reference to working in Pharaoh’s corn fields explicitly links Pharaoh to American slave owners; it was the Black slaves, not the Israelites, who were forced to pick corn. The preacher has deliberately combined the two moments in history into one account and made Pharaoh a symbol of his own oppressors.

After comparing white masters to Pharaoh, the preacher belittles Pharaoh and demonstrates his lack of power. He describes Pharaoh’s cruelty to the Hebrew slaves as “his foolin’” (Line 13), indicating how petty Pharaoh’s actions were in the eyes of God, who had grown “tiahed” (Line 13) or tired of Pharaoh’s antics. Later, the preacher states, “Pher’oh’s ahmy / Was n’t wuth a ha’f a dime” (Lines 21-22) when measured against God’s power. By first comparing white slave owners to Pharaoh and then disparaging Pharaoh’s might, the preacher simultaneously condemns the sin of slavery and the supposed Christians who propagate it and persuades his audience of fellow slaves that the seeming omnipotence of their masters will soon come to an end.

The Angel Gabriel

There is yet another biblical allusion contained in “An Ante-Bellum Sermon.” In two separate stanzas, Dunbar references the angel Gabriel and the horn he sounds. The preacher describes the terror and power of God when he decides to execute judgement on his enemies, such as the Egyptians, stating, “An’ de lan’ shall hyeah his thundah, / Lak a blas’ f’om Gab’el’s ho’n” (Lines 33-34). In the midst of his sermon about Moses and the Old Testament, the speaker suddenly shifts attention to New Testament eschatology, the doctrine of the end of the world. In 1 Thessalonians, the apostle Paul states that Christ’s second coming to the world will be preceded by “a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God” (4:16). While this verse does not make clear who is blowing the trumpet, church tradition often placed the angel Gabriel, one of God’s most important messengers, in that role. It is this tradition of Gabriel sounding the trumpet that Dunbar refers to here.

Later in the poem, the speaker conflates his biblical allusions to Moses and Gabriel when he describes a future Moses figure’s arrival to save the Black slaves. The preacher declares that he can “hyeah [Moses’] trumpit blas’” (Line 76), despite the fact that the Bible never depicts Moses with a trumpet. This line is yet another reference to 1 Thessalonians and Gabriel’s announcement of the coming of the Lord. As Christ’s second coming is quickly followed by his doing battle with the Devil and his allies, the sound of Gabriel’s horn is thus a promise to believers like the speaker that God’s triumph is imminent and that he will execute justice against evildoers. Because both Moses and Gabriel serve as symbols of liberation for the Black slaves, Dunbar’s speaker conflates the two figures and combines elements of God’s judgements in different eras into one event.