CONCORDIA THEOLOGICAL MeNTHLY

Joseph Smith, Defender of the Faith ~ ROBER N. HULLINGER

J. S. Bach: New Light on His Faith CHRISTOPH TRAUTMANN

The Curse of Canaan and the American Negro

L. RICHARD BRADLEY

Crisis and the Clergyman VERNON R WIEHE

Homiletics

I

Book Review I

Volume XLll February 1971 Number 2

. ~ The Curse of Canaan and the American Negro

1. RICHARD BRADLEY

The author is a graduate student at Princeton Theological Seminary. THIS SURVEY OF PAST INTERPRETATIONS OF GEN. 9:25-27 SUPPLIES A HELPFUL PER­ spective from which to understand how the notion of white supremacy and Negro slavery in America were persistently justified on the basis of "the curse of Canaan." The article grew out of a course in black history which the author recently taught while a student at Concordia Theological Seminary, Springfield, Ill.

ne of the darkest spots on the record it may be, the fact remains that 11 o'clock O of race relations within Christianity Sunday morning is still the most segre­ has been the use of the "curse of Ham" gated hour of American life.3 to justify the American institution of Against this background an inquiry into slavery and corresponding deprecatory the interpretations attached to the "curse views about black people. Many present­ of Ham" becomes important so that one day difficulties in relating the white church can determine whether the church has been to its black counterpart stem from the pro­ the victim of social pressure or faulty exe­ slavery, prowhite supremacy interpreta­ gesis or both. tions which various commentators have Two basic meanings have been derived attached to Gen. 9:25-27. Many American from this passage. According to John churches once preached a gospel which Lange, declared the N egro to be essentially in­ ferior to the white man and slavery to be The application of the curse to Ham was a divine decree. It is no wonder, then, that early made by commentators, but its enor­ mous extension to the whole continent of those churches still have problems wel­ Africa belongs to quite modern time. This coming and entertaining the Negro on the latter seems almost wholly due to certain basis of spiritual equality.! In fact, recent sociological studies indicate that many and Ellen Siegelman, Preiudice: U. S. A. (New white Christians still adhere to these be­ York: Praeger, 1969); Charles Y. Glock and liefs despite official denominational pro­ Rodney Stark, Religion and Society in Tension (Chicago : Rand McNally & Co., 1965); Jeffrey nouncements to the contrary.2 As sad as K. Hadden, The Gathering Storm in the Churches (Garden City: Doubleday and Co., ! Kyle Haselden, The Racial Problem in 1969). Christian Perspective (New York: Harper Torch 3 Martin Luther King Jr., "The Un-Christian Books, 1959), p. 27. Christian," in The White Problem in America, 2 See Rodney Stark and Charles Y. Glock, ed. staff of Ebony magazine (Chicago: Johnson, American Piety: The Nature of Religious Com- 1965), p. 65. See Carl M. Zorn, "Evangelical mitment (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University Integration of Color," CONCORDIA THEOLOGI- of California Press, 1968); Charles Y. Glock CAL MONTHLY, XVIII (1947), 430-38. 100 THE CURSE OF CANAAN AND THE AMERICAN NEGRO 101

historic phenomena that have presented however, it was not until the 13th century themselves in America.4 that definite racial overtones began to be Apparently this prophecy was thought to associated with slavery. Davis cites the have been fulfilled twice: once when the following statement by Andre Horn, Cham­ Canaanites were subjugated by Israel and berlain of London: again when Negroes were subjected to To keep a man of free ancestry as a slave American slave owners. This inquiry will was a personal trespass. Yet, 'serfage' in examine both interpretations - first, writ­ the case of a black man is a subjugation ers who based some defense of slavery on issuing from so high an antiquity that no this passage, and second, writers who re­ free stock can be found within human memory. And this serfage, according to futed the assumption that American slav­ some, comes from the curse which Noah ery was a secondary fulfillment of the pronounced against Canaan, the son of his "curse of Ham." son Ham, and against his issue. 8 I During the 15th century Negro slave According to Curt Rylaarsdam, "modern trade began in earnest. It was conducted notions of race did not exist in the biblical first by the Portuguese, then by the Span­ world." 5 There were also no connotations iards, then by the English. By the time of racial inferiority or superiority attached of the Reformation the institution of Ne­ to the institution of slavery, for both the gro slavery had developed to the point Greeks and the Romans practised it along that many people assumed with Bartolmea nonracial lines. Usually their custom was Coepolla "that slavery was sanctioned not 6 to enslave those whom they conquered. just by the civil law and jus gentium but The Hebrews bought and used other He­ also by natural and divine law as well." 9 brews as slaves. Exactly when slavery be­ Coepolla found the divine-law origin in came a matter of racial discrimination is Adam's sin, the natural-law sanction in difficult to determine, though it is known Noah's curse, and the justification of jus that the ancient Arabs regarded black peo­ gentium in war. ple as born to slavery.7 Generally speaking, Luther faced this problem as he lec­ 4 John Peter Lange, Genesis (New York : tured on Genesis. He seerns to have been Charles Scribner's Sons, 1915), p. 340. a leading proponent of the interpretation 5 Ebony (March 1969), p.118, quoted in that it was actually Ham who was cursed Joseph G. Koranda, Aftermath of Misinterpreta­ tion: The Misunderstanding of Genesis 9:25-27 by Noah. Further, in his Commentary on and Its Contribution to White Racism (unpubl. Genesis he says that the punishment was B. D. thesis, Concordia Theological Seminary, not carried out directly on Ham, but was Springfield, Ill., 1969), p. 5. tO 6 Koranda, p. 8. deferred to later generations. Yet it 7 David Brion Davis, The Problem of Slav­ would be unfair, as some have done, to ery in Western Culture (Ithaca, N. Y.: Cornell University Press, 1966) , p. 451. Davis says that 8 Ibid., p. 91. this position was apparently deduced from a statement in the Babylonian Talmud to the effect 9 Ibid., p. 109. that "Negroes . . . were the children of Ham, to Martin Luther, Commentary on Genesis, who, according to varying legends, was cursed trans. J. T. Mueller (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zon­ with blackness." dervan, 1958), pp. 175-76. 102 THE CURSE OF CANAAN AND THE AMERICAN NEGRO deduce from this that Luther was the father in an extraordinary and supernatural man­ of the interpretation which sent millions ner, giving to these two children such of blacks into slavery, for Luther does not forms of bodies, constitution of natures, necessarily associate the curse with race. and complexion of skin, as suited his will. Japheth he caused to be born white, dif­ It is true that he does claim that one of fering from the red color of his parents, Ham's sons, Cush, was a Negro-a state­ while he caused Ham to be born black, ment which some have cited to prove that a color still further removed from the red Luther had in mind Negro slavery. The hue of his parents than was white.13 evidence to support this conclusion, how­ His conclusion was based on the argument ever, is too weak to justify it. The most that the word "Ham" in the language of that can be inferred is that one quarter of Noah signified anything that had become Ham's descendants were black. Further­ "black." Furthermore, Priest cited the He­ more, in his Lectures on Genesis Luther brew tradition of naming things according prefers to interpret the curse in the sense to their appearance and nature, noting that of an eternal rather than a temporal pun­ the word "Ham" was already prophetic ishment.11 of Ham's character and fortunes in life. As slave trade increased, some white He also suggested that the word pointed to people devised better arguments 0 salve their consciences. Richard Jobson, a trader, ( 1) heat or violence of temper, exceed­ ingly prone to acts of ferocity and suggested that cruelry, even cannibalism, (and] the Enormous size of the Virile Member (2) deceit, dishonesty, treachery, low- among the "Negroes" was an infallible mindedness, and malice.14 proof that they are sprung from Canaan, who, for uncovering his father's nakedness, Of course the English translation's "cursed had a curse laid upon that part.12 Canaan" rather than "cursed Ham" posed a textual problem for Priest. He concluded, In America it was Josiah Priest who however, that the Arabic copy of Genesis offered the most eloquent defense of slav­ read "cursed Ham" and that this was the ery as a result of the curse of Ham in a more accurate reading.15 book entitled Bible Defense of Slavery. Priest advanced the rather unique theory Ham did not become cursed to slavery that Ham was born black, albeit from the because of this one act, according to Priest, same woman who bore Shem and Japheth! but he was born to be a slave. Priest Said Priest: favored the translation "cursed Ham" in­ God, who made all things, and endowed stead of "cursed be Ham" in order to em­ all animated nature with the strange and phasize that Ham had always been a bad unexplained power of propagation, super­ person.16 He also claimed that intended the formation of two of the sons of Noah, in the womb of their mother, 13 Josiah Priest, Bible Defense of Slavery (Glasgow, Ky.: W. S. Brown, 1853 [repub­ lished by the Negro History Press, Detroit, 11 Martin Luther, Lectures on Genesis, Vol. 2 of Luther's Works (American Edition), trans. 1969?J ), p. 33. George V. Schick (St. Louis: Concordia Publish­ 14 Ibid., p. 40. ing House, 1960), p.176. 15 Ibid., p. 91. 12 Davis, p. 40. 16 Ibid., pp. 92-93. THE CURSE OF CANAAN AND THE AMERICAN NEGRO H)3

the appointment of this race of men to nothing against the institution of slavery servitude and slavery was a judicial act of but contains much to support it, for ex­ God, or, in other words, was a divine ample, the command that slaves should be judgment . . . and that we are not mis­ obedient to their masters.20 taken in concluding that the negro race, After the Civil War and the abolition of as a people, are judicially given over to a slavery per se, more subtle arguments were state of peculiar liability of being enslaved by the other racesP found to lend continuing support to the so-called curse of Ham. C. F. Keil and Priest held that the fulfillment of this Franz Delitzsch noted that curse was found in the subjection of Afri­ Noah's curse rested upon the whole race; cans by the inhabitants of America (de­ that is, the Hamitic race, even though it scendants of Japheth) with God's permis­ was Canaan who was cursed. This assump­ sion and blessing. IS Just how important tion is based on the fact that Ham did not this theological foundation for the doctrine receive a blessing from Noah as his two of the racial superiority of the white race brothers did.21 was to Priest can be seen in this remark: Keil also maintained that, by implication, The servitude of the race of Ham, to the Ham's whole family relationship was latest era of mankind, is necessary to the cursed by the absence of any blessing. H e veracity of God Himself, as by it is ful­ claimed that history supports this supposi­ filled one of the oldest of the decrees of tion, since the Scriptures, namely, that of Noah, the Canaanite tribes were exterminated or which placed the race as servants under scattered and subjected to the lowest forms other races.19 of slavery, and the remainder of the W hat Priest was really saying was that the Hamitic tribes either shared the same fate, truthfulness or infallibility of God's pro­ or still sigh, like the N egro, for example, phetic statements, as contained in Scrip­ 20 Wal her's position is best illustrated by ture, hinged upon the acceptance of Negro the following quotation from Lehre und Wehre, slavery as the necessary fulfillment of the IX (February 1863), 34. "Having set forth curse of Ham. This had the effect of plac­ this status controversiae [that slavery per se is not sinful], we therefore maintain th-at aboli­ ing the truthfulness of God's self-revela­ tionism, which holds and declares slavery as an tion on the same level as acceptance of essentially sinful relationship and every master Negro slavery and white supremacy. Thus of a slave thereby as a malefactor and therefore wants to abolish the former under all circum­ the institution of Negro slavery was justi­ stances, is a child of unbelief and its unfolding fied! - rationalism, deistic philanthropism, panthe­ ism, materialism, atheism, and a brother of mod­ C. F. W . Walther apparently sided with ern socialism, Jacobinism, and communism." those who saw N egro slavery as a fulfill­ 21 C. F. Keil and Franz Delitzsch, Biblical ment of divine judgment, although he did Commentary on the Old Testament, Vol. I: The not cite Gen. 9:25-27 to support his posi­ Pentateuch (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans, tion. He argued that Scripture teaches 1949), pp. 157-58. They further maintain that "in the sin of Ham, 'there lies the great stain of the whole Hamitic race, whose chief characteris­ 17 Ibid., p. 98. tic is sexual sin, and the curse which Noah pro­ 18 Ibid., p. 289. nounced upon this sin still rests upon their 19 Ibid., p. 393. race.' " 104 THE CURSE OF CANAAN AND THE AMERICAN NEGRO

and other African tribes, beneath the yoke and Turks. And, as is well known, the of the most crushing slavery.22 Negroes who were for so long slaves of Europeans and Americans, also claim Ham P. E. Kretzmann in his Popular Commen­ as their progenitor.25 tary on the Bible also took this position, assoclatlOg the enslaving of Africans by Similar positions were espoused by Basil the white race with Noah's cursing of Atkinson,26 W. H. G . Thomas,27 Joseph Ham.23 Exell,28 W. G. Blaikie,29 and Ferdinand so W illiam Dallman pointed to American Rupprecht. Negro slavery as an example of fulfilled 25 Arthur Pink, Gleanings in Genesis (Chi­ prophecy: cago: Moody Press, 1922), p.126. The plain meaning of Noah's words is that 26 Basil F. C. Atkinson, The Pocket Com­ the descendants of Canaan should be mentary of the Bible: Genesis (Chicago: Moody slaves, those of Shem should be a blessing, Press, 1957), p.97. Atkinson notes that "on a wider scale it has been true throughout history, those of Japheth should rule. Has this that the races and peoples descended from Ham prophecy been fulfilled? The Negro is the or Canaan have been those who have often been leading living descendant of Ham and exploited and regarded as inferior." Canaan, and history shows that the Negro 27 W. H. G. Thomas, Genesis: A Devotional has been the slave of the world. Even to­ Commentary (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerd­ day the slave-trader of Africa cracks his mans, 1953) , p. 97. Thomas says that "the whip over the quivering flesh of his human servitude of Canaan here foretold was subse­ quently seen in history. The land of Canaan victim. . . . Japheth shall enlarge his bor­ was subjugated by Israel, and the Canaanites be­ ders. And is he not doing it? Europe came the servants of the Semitic race. In a still belongs to the Causasian, North and South wider sense the descendants of Ham in Africa America, Australia, the isles of the sea, have for centuries been the slaves of the almost all Asia, and now he is slicing up Japhethic races." the continent of Africa. What shore does 28 Joseph S. Exell, The Bible Illustrator: Genesis, I (Grand Rapids : Baker Book House, not echo to the conquering tread of the 1954) , 405 . Exell says that Africa "is peopled lordly white man? 24 by the children of Ham, who have lived and still live in the most degraded state of subjugation. Arthur Pink's commentary on Genesis also To all this may be added that the inhabitants of supported this position: Africa seemed to be marked out as objects of By tracing the history of Ham's other sons, slavery by European nations. Though these things are far from excusing the conduct of their it becomes evident that the scope of Noah's oppressors, yet they establish the fact, and prove prophecy reached beyond Canaan. . .. The the fulfillment of prophecy." whole of Africa was peopled by the de­ 29 W. G. Blaikie, A Manual of Bible History scendants of Ham, and for many centuries (London: T. Nelson & Sons, 1907), pp. 41-42. the greater part of that continent lay under Blaikie suggests that "though the curse of Ham was formally pronounced upon Canaan alone, it the dominion of the Romans, Saracens, has been reflected more or less on the other branches of his family. The black-skinned Afri­ 22 Ibid., p. 157. can became a synonym for weakness and deg­ 23 P. E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary on radation." the Bible, Vol. I: The Old Testament (St. Louis: 30 Ferdinand Rupprecht, Bible History Ref­ Concordia Publishing House, 1923), p.23. erences (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 24 William Dallman, Why Do I Believe the 1926), p. 23. Here Rupprecht traces the fulfill­ Bible Is God's lVord? (St. Louis: Concordia ment of the curse down to the present day in the Publishing House, 1937), p. 11. following manner: "Ham's descendants first be- THE CURSE OF CANAAN AND THE AMERICAN NEGRO 105

Each of these commentators, whether in­ dorses the proslavery interpretation of the tentionally or unintentionally, raised the curse. According to William Whalen, issue of Negro slavery from the area of The Mormon interpretation of the curse of interpretive judgment to the area of vali­ Canaan . . . together with unauthorized, dation for the trustworthiness of Scripture but widely accepted statements by Mormon itself. It is most unfortunate that many of leaders in years past, has led to the view the commentaries which supported Negro among many Mormon adherents that birth enslavement as an example of the fulfill­ into any other race than white is the result ment of prophecy also equated acceptance of inferior performance in pre-earth life.32 of this interpretation with acceptance of This interpretation of the curse on the the veracity of Scripture itself. Christians Negro race has led Mormons to ban Ne­ were thus forced to consider the question groes from their priesthood, a ban which of the reliability of Scripture instead of was reaffirmed on Jan. 9, 1970, by the late focusing their attention on the real prob­ David O. McKay.33 lem - the validity of the interpretation itself. II Edward Koehler's "Annotated Cate­ Church fathers like St. Jerome and St. chism" says the fact that "the wicked de­ Augustine do not defend the association scendants of Ham bear a curse" is an illus­ of the curse of Ham with Negro enslave­ tration of the truth that God visits the sins ment.34 In the 15th century, after slave of the fathers upon the children to the trade had begun, being consigned to slav­ third and fourth generation of them that ery and being a member of the black race hate Him.31 While the appeal to Scripture began to be virtually equated with each is based on a different passage, the implica­ other. During the medieval period itself, tions to be drawn from its usage are the slavery was justified on the basis of war; same: the trustworthiness of Scripture those who lost wars were assumed to be seems to be dependent on the acceptance good slave material. W ith the beginning of Negro slavery as the fulfillment of the of the "holy wars," Christians and Muslims curse of Ham. alike added a second justification for slav­ ery, namely, that heathen people would Before focusing attention on those in­ make good mission material. Since both terpretations that do not support Negro Christians and Muslims regarded each other slavery, we must note that there is still at as heathen, many people on both sides least one church body which officially en- found themselves in slavery as a result of came the servants of Shem's descendants, then of the descendants of Japheth in Africa, until the 32 William J. Whalen, The Latter·Day Saints time that they were brought to this country and in the Modern World (New York: John Day kept alive as slaves." Co., 1964), p. 255. 33 "Mormons Reaffirm Church's Ban on Ne­ 31 Edward W. A. Koehler, A Short Explana­ tion 0/ Dr. Martin Luther's Small Catechism groes in Priesthood," New York Times (Jan. 9, (River Forest, Ill.: Koehler Publishing Co., 1970), p. 14. 1946), p.101. See also F. W. C. Jesse, Cate­ 34 Winthrop D. Jordan, White Over Black chetical Preparations (St. Louis: Concordia Pub­ (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina lishing House, 1919-1921). Press, 1969), p. 1S. 106 THE CURSE OF CANAAN AND THE AMERICAN NEGRO

"holy" wars. This unique "missionary out­ interpretation might have grown out of the reach" was also applied to Negroes, who tension between the church's inability to were for the most part heathen. interfere with the political institution of Jordan notes in his book White Over slavery and its desire, however, to serve Blac.k that "when the story of Ham's curse the slave: did become relatively common in the 17th It, of course, called for a very literal inter­ century, it was utilized almost entirely as pretation to twist this story into the curse an explanation of color rather than as of God upon Canaan. But that very literal justification for Negro slavery." 35 Yet interpretation was in accord with the strict somehow, when slavery was transferred to religious thought of the time; hence the story seemed to justify slavery.39 America, this emphasis was changed and increasingly the institution of slavery, the James Bushwell suggests that the sup- curse of Ham, and the destiny of the Negro porters of slavery considered that it was in America were inextricably bound up designed by God to be perpetuated with one another. One indication of this through all time, and intended to cement occurs in the writings of an Englishman, and compact the whole human family, to Morgan Godwyn, who in the 1680s felt establish the system of mutual relation compelled to speak and write against the and dependency and to sustain the great chain of subordination essential to the idea that the institution of Negro slavery divine, as well as human governments.40 was the fulfillment of the curse of Ham.36 In 1671 W illiam Edmundson argued The real background for this interpreta­ that physical slavery and Christian liberty tion, however, lay in the ancient assump­ were incompatible. He wrote that tion that it was permissible to enslave the heathen. Those who used this argument the perpetual bondage was an oppression on the mind which could not be judged by then viewed slavery as the natural result of God's curse on the children of Canaan. the sin of the enslaved. Bushwell further Even if it could be shown that Africans suggests that the real problem was that were the descendants of Ham, had not the defenders of slavery saw only the Christ removed the "wall of partition" existing culture of Bible times reflected in that separated people? 37 its pages and assumed that since slavery In a similar vein Elihu Coleman wrote was included, the institution thus received 41 against slavery in 1715 and stated that divine sanction. Negro slavery was 1Z0t the fulfillment of Charles Everett Tilson has suggested that the curse of Canaan but, as other pam­ those who used Gen.9:25-27 to support phlets argued, that the curse was merely a Negro slavery and segregation made five refuge for those who wanted to maintain basic assumptions: the doctrine of white supremacy.38 39 W. D. Weatherford, American Churches W. D. W eatherford suggests that this and the Negro (Boston: Christopher Publishing House, 1957) , p. 284. 35 Ibid. 40 James O. Bushwell, Slavery, Segregation 36 Davis, p. 340. and Scripture (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerd­ 37 Ibid., p. 307. mans, 1964), p.17. 38 Ibid., p. 316. 41 Ibid., p. 33. THE CURSE OF CANAAN AND THE AMERICAN NEGRO 107

( 1) that God pronounced the curse; cient textual support and must therefore (2) that the curse was biologically trans­ be rejected. The application of the curse ferable; to the continent of Africa is of recent de­ ( 3) that Ham was the original victim of velopment and suggests that the idea of the curse; the curse of Ham ( 4) that the children of the original vic­ has developed, not to defend slavery, but tim of the curse were slaves; rather from the desire to give a worldly, ( 5) that the original victim of the curse political importance to the Scriptural pre­ was a member of the Negro race.42 dictions, especially the early ones, thus Tilson· ref-utes these assumptions, arguing: magnifying the Scriptures, as they [pro­ slavery people] suppose, and furl1ishlll,f; (1) Noah pronounced the curse, not God. remarkable evidence for the truth of rev­ ( 2) The curse was not biologically trans­ elation.45 ferable. ( 3) The text, as it stands, places the curse Lange finally concludes that there is no on Canaan, not on Ham, meaning valid Scriptural basis for applying this that three-fourths of Ham's descen­ curse to the Negro race in our day. dants have no reason to regard H. C. Leupold 1i1 .se argues that the thems '5 curse. Scriptures clearly iJ.ppJy the curse to Canaan (4) There ooi for the and not to I- s cursed, assu!C!ption that the children of the he s,c.ys, ka'.fing the other three fOL:lChs of original victim of the curse were the Hamitic race untouched. Leupold also slaves. suggests that the verb would more properly ( 5) It cannot be proven that the descen­ be rendered "cursed is Canaan" rather than dants of Ham were members of the "cursed be Canaan" to convey more ac­ Negro race.43 curately the intended meaning.47 In his Commentary on Ge'nesis John Albert Ba - " . J irtto the Lange supports the position taken by Til­ Scriptural Views of Slavery also rejects the son. He says, "We must also bear in mind, application of the curse to Ham in place that the relation of servant in this case of Canaan, for "if a Hebrew had ever denotes no absolute relation in the curse, thought of employing Genesis 9: 25-27 to or any developed slave relation." 44 He justify slavery, it wbuld not have been ap­ further states that the argument that Ham plied by him to the African (Ham), but was cursed instead of Canaan lacks suffi- to the Canaanite." 48 The following writ-

42 Charles Everett Tilson, Seg1'egation and 45 Ibid., p. 340. the Bible (New York: Abingdon Press, 1958), p.23. 46 H. C. Leupold, Exposition of Genesis (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1955), 43 Ibid., pp. 24-26. See also John Theo­ dore Mueller, "Has the Bible Placed a Curse p.348. upon the Negro Race," CONCORDIA THEO­ 47 Ibid., p. 350. LOGICAL MONTHLY, XV (1944), 346, and J. 48 Albert Barnes, An Inquiry into the Scrip­ Ernest Shufelt, "Noah's Curse and Blessing," tUMI Views of Slavery (Philadelphia: Parry and ibid., XVII (1946), 737-42. M'Millan, 1857 [republished by the Negro 44 Lange, p. 337. History Press, Detroit, 1969]), p. 207. 108 THE CURSE OF CANAAN AND THE AMERICAN NEGRO ers concur: Franz Delitzsch,49 August Dill­ Carroll also says that acceptance of that man,50 Darek Kidner,51 and Andrew position would require Christians to be­ Schulze.52 lieve that Noah had the power to call down Charles Carroll's rejection of the pro­ such a curse when Scriptures do not say slavery interpretation of the curse is based that he did. Furthermore, such a position on entirely different reasons. In his The would require belief in a God who, though Negro, A Beast . .. or ... In the Image just, merciful, and loving, would at the of God Carroll holds that the theory that same time approve of the desire of drunken Noah to visit so dire a punishment on the Negro is the son of Ham was con­ Canaan.54 Carroll's final argument does ceived in, and has been handed down to us not come from the Scriptures, however, but from the dark ages of ignorance, supersti­ from science: tion and crime and because the church gave it to us, the devotees of Enlightened All scientific investigation of the subject Christianity accepted it as "both sound and proves the Negro to be an ape . . . he sacred." 53 simply stands at the head of the ape family. When God's plan of creation, and 49 Franz Delitzsch, New Commentary on the drift of Bible history are properly un­ Genesis, I (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1899), derstood, it will be found that the teaching 294-95. Delitzsch holds that the curse feU on of Scripture upon this, as upon every other Canaan and not on Ham and finds its fulfillment subject, harmonize with those of s cience . ~11 when Israel conquered the Canaanites (Josh. 9:23, 1 Kings 9:20). He sees no valid way in Carroll's final point shows the obvious in ~ which this curse can be used to support the claims of the proslavery advocates. fluence of Darwinism as applied to theories about the reasons for Negro inferiority. 5{) August Dillman, Genesis (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1897), pp. 307-8. Dillman Even though he attempted to correct the concludes that "the slavery of the Negro races misinterpretations which had come down cannot be justified from this passage, all the less to his day, Carroll attempted to justify because the Negro peoples in the strict sense are not derived from Ham at all." segregation and white supremacy on the 51 Darek Kidner, Genesis: An Introduction basis of the same presuppositions that his and Commentary (London: Tyndale Press predecessors had utilized. 1967), p. 104. Kidner notes that "since the curse is confined to one branch within the family III of Ham, those who reckon the Hamitic peoples in general to be doomed to inferiority have At this point a few conclusions can be therefore misread the Old Testament as well as drawn. In the first place it should be ob­ the New. It is likely, too, that the subjugation of the Canaanites to Israel fulfilled the oracle vious that those who have used Gen. 9: sufficiently." 25-27 to justify Negro slavery and white 52 Andrew Schulze, My Neighbor of Another supremacy have been guilty of seriously Color (Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1941), p.46. misinterpreting the text, primarily on the Schulze categorically denies that there is any basis of a need to justify a relationship curse on the Negro race, saying that "the curse of Canaan does not apply to the Negro any more which white men should have known was than it does to the Caucasians." wrong. In order to put their fears to rest, 53 Charles Carroll, The Negro, A Beast . •. or . .. In The Image of God (St.Louis: Amer­ 54 Ibid., p. 77. ican Book & Bible House, 1900), p. 75. 55 Ibid., p. 87. THE CURSE OF CANAAN AND THE AMERICAN NEGRO 109

men wrote pages and pages about Negro danger in equating acceptance of these slavery as an institution of God, resulting theories and interpretations with accep­ from the curse of Ham, and about the tance of the trustworthiness of Scripture, happiness of the Negro as a slave. This as some commentators have done by im­ line of interpretation reached the height plication. This approach to Scriprure forces of absurdity when the notion was advanced men either to read too much into Scripture that people so enslaved could then be or to reject it altogether. It is the opinion Christianized. While it is true that many of this writer that many commentators on masters did baptize their slaves, little or Genesis 9 failed to allow the Bible to no attempt was made by the majority of speak to them on its own terms. Rather slaveholders to teach their slaves any Chris­ than trying to see how the Bible's histori­ tianity beyond the injunction, "Slaves, be cal situation applied to their day, these obedient to your masters." Furthermore, men attempted to justify the excesses of this religious facade vanished altogether in their day by reading their historical situa­ the late 1670s as state after state passed tion back into the pages of the Bible. stringent laws forbidding the religious in­ It is certainly true that the curse uttered struction of slaves.56 by Noah was applicable in Biblical times In the second place it seems fairly ob­ to Israel's conquest of Canaan, but the ap­ vious that those who relied on Gen. 9: plication to modern days does not have 25-27 to justify Negro slavery in America sufficient Scriptural basis to warrant its ac­ were victims of a bad historical perspec­ ceptance. Again, to say that Negroes claim tive, one which saw slavery reflected in the Ham as their progenitor and to use this as pages of the Bible, but which failed at the some kind of evidence for their slavery same time to see how it developed or what appears to be nothing else than the white it implied. As we have indicated, the as­ man's attempt to put words which he sociation of racial inferiority, slavery, and the curse of Ham is of fairly recent his­ wants to hear into the mouth of the black torical origin and is out of harmony both man. It is highly doubtful that intelligent with the practice of ancient peoples and blacks ever accepted this theory and even with the interpretations which they placed more doubtful that any would accept it to­ on this passage. Furthermore, to suggest day. As W . E. B. DuBois has put it, "The that the text should be read "cursed Ham" biblical story of the 'curse of Canaan' has instead of "cursed Canaan," as Priest and been the basis of an astonishing literature others have done, violates basic hermeneu­ which has today only a psychological in­ tical principles. If one accepts the Hebrew terest." 57 text as it stands, it is impossible to coun­ Finally, it must be said that Carroll was tenance the cursing of all Hamitic peoples. just as guilty as Priest of reading his own Priest's theory that Ham was born black presuppositions into the Bible. Darwin's must also be rejected because it lacks Scrip­ theory of evolution and the Biblical teach­ tural support. ing on the origin of the world do not In the third place there is an inherent 57 W. E. B. DuBois, The Negro (New York: 56 Bushwell, pp. 37-38. Henry Holt & Co., 1915), p.20. 110 THE CURSE OF CANAAN AND THE AMERICAN NEGRO harmonize, no matter how either one is fourths of the descendants of Ham are twisted. Carroll's solution to the question exempt from the curse. of the origin of the Negro race cannot be 3. The curse involves no implications of harmonized with Scriptural teachings about racial inferiority and therefore rules out God's creation of man. To single out one the racial interpretations placed on it race and relegate it to second-class status to justify American Negro slavery and racial segregation. flaunts everything Scripture teaches about the fatherhood of God. Hence, Carroll's 4. The curse was applicable to the his­ torical situation after Canaan was con­ theories must also be dismissed. quered by Israel. Our conclusions can be summarized as 5. The curse cannot in any valid way be follows: used to justify either American Negro 1. The curse was pronounced by Noah slavery or the continued existence of and not by God and therefore could de facto segregation in American not have been a judicial act of God. churches and in American society at large. 2. The curse applied only to Canaan and his descendants and therefore tbree- Princeton, N. J.