The Concept of God in the Poetry of the American Negro

Author

• Sister Mary Helena Jones SSF, Xavier University of Louisiana

Date of Award

1943

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Keywords

African American Poetry, Concept of God, Negro Spirituals, Religious Faith, Slave Songs, Paul Laurence Dunbar, Langston Hughes, Countee Cullen, James Weldon Johnson, Claude McKay

Abstract

This thesis, submitted to the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences of Xavier University in partial fulfillment of requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in 1943, traces the evolving concept of God in the poetry of the American Negro from the era of slavery through the early 1940s. Sister Mary Helena Jones examines the poets' treatment of the divine attributes of God, including His Power, Love, Justice, Goodness, Immutability, and Mercy, and His relation to man as Saviour, Friend, Master, Shepherd, and King, arguing that this faith, once central to Black religious and poetic expression, has weakened over successive generations.

The thesis opens with an account of African religious background and the conditions under which slaves were introduced to Christianity in America, followed by an examination of the Negro Spirituals as an early and richly theological source of religious expression. It then surveys the poetry of early Black poets Jupiter Hammon, Phillis Wheatley, and Paul Laurence Dunbar, noting a gradual introduction of doubt and agnosticism beginning with Dunbar. The thesis continues with the "new spirit" poets James Weldon Johnson and Countee Cullen, whose work reflects both renewed racial confidence and persistent theological uncertainty in the face of racial injustice, and concludes with the "New Negro" poets Claude McKay, Langston Hughes, and Sterling Brown, whose poetry ranges from outright rebellion against religious faith to a renewed, more mature filial confidence in God. An appendix reproduces Langston Hughes's public statement explaining and contextualizing his controversial poem "Goodbye Christ," along with personal correspondence between Hughes and the author. The thesis concludes that while the "New Negro" has in some cases drifted from the faith of his forebears, there is reason to hope for a spiritual reawakening paralleling that anticipated in America more broadly.

Note: No original abstract was included; this abstract is provided by the XULA Digital Commons editors.

Recommended Citation

Jones, Sister Mary Helena SSF, "The Concept of God in the Poetry of the American Negro" (1943). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 150.
https://digitalcommons.xula.edu/etd/150