The Cross And The Lynching Tree By James Cone

Slavery is an economic, legal system where humans are sold and treated as property. The history of slavery spans nearly almost from every culture, religion and nationality from ancient to present days. Slavery in the United States is identified as one of the darkest periods of the human kind where people from the African continent were sold to the white settlers in the United States. Based on research it was evident that the white Christianity supported the establishment and the continuation of slavery in America. This paper is a study of the history on how white Christianity helped and also offered support to American slavery. The paper will discuss how the black community was oppressed and the tools used to support the establishment and continuation of slavery. The research will adopt the use of the book titled “the cross and the lynching tree” written by James Cone.

Slavery in various forms was a common social aspect in the Christianity religion, based on the bible. Slavery started in the time of Genesis where Joseph was sold into slavery by his brother in Egypt. In the

The racially targeted lynchings were rare before the civil war since killing the black slaves would have resulted in a loss of property and profit. From 1880 to 1940 more than five thousand African Americans were killed by the US white vigilante mobs that also included Christians (page, 3). Christians were on the forefront in participation in lynching where black persons were killed without any cause or chance to face a justified death. The Christians that did not participate directly in any lynchings were silent on the issue. The act of lynching was identified as the symbolic re-enactment of the fructification in the twentieth century . This exposes the Christian hypocrisy and wilful blindness of white Americans Christians who had a reconciliation