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Foreword

We have survived the affliction, infection, and stain of chattel slavery, Jim and Jane Crow on our consciousness because when the question was asked, “Is there a word from the Lord?”, the answer came back in the affirmative. From bush harbors and makeshift hideaways, our African ancestors found hope and solace while enduring their living hell by heeding the words of the gospel preached from both the women and men of their time.

Those who were enslaved inherited a religion that has been erroneously labeled by many as the false hope for better in the afterlife, deeming the practice as a ridiculous parade and finding it futile to enrapture people at this particularly difficult junction in their lives. But if we fail to recognize religion as a word to encourage the enslaved to seek that life in the present, we fail to understand why they chose to run away from their vicious slavers.

Is hope not why they operated clandestine schools? Is it not that same hope that motivated them to diligently seek the family and loved ones sold and separated from them?

The black enslaved preacher and his or her modern counterparts preached words of encouragement to uplift a people who were and are assaulted, molested, raped, and profiled by four hundred years of systematic racism in its vilest form.

Dr. Clifford McLain, a man born into a rich Louisiana preaching heritage, has uniquely heard, met, and empathized with the most prolific voices from the black pulpit in the twentieth and twenty-first century. Most sleep in the hush of death now. And many have recorded sermons in both written and audible forms available for posterity, but McLain offers salient stories that present a humanized voice that exists beyond the pulpit. McLain’s first hand interactions with a cadre of preacher pastors form a veritable who’s who of the black church.

These masterful homileticians who helped to shape and encourage a people living behind enemy lines in what Maya Angelou called appropriately “these not yet United States of America” are resurrected and exalted within these pages. As Ezekiel of Hebrew scripture was asked by God, “Can these bones live?”, McLain offers up a resounding yes. And just as the bones have the breath of life within them, we have been reminded as we sit amongst the sages, of that same life within us.

Rev. Aaron L. Dobynes, PhD.

Shiloh Baptist Church (Old Site)

Fredericksburg, Virginia