Photo by the author, Deeann D. Mathews, April 3, 2024
One of my favorite Negro Spirituals, although one of the least performed, is "I've Been in the Storm So Long," and when we consider that chattel slavery had to be endured by 13 generations of humans, any one of those who were adults (the 13th generation was still children) before June 19, 1865 might have had this be their experience. However, as we are between Memorial Day and Juneteenth, the day that suffering ended for my ancestors, I consider this song the backdrop to the light of freedom ... we cannot fully appreciate how wonderful freedom is without understanding what not having it meant to so many. The theme is pain. I understand the history of African Americans, so I also, from that great well of history, understand the assignment. The sorrow, and the storm, are here.
There is, of course, a happy ending: all failed in oppression, because I am here to tell the story, reading, writing, singing, and playing the piano, on Hive, IN FREEDOM! The light DID BREAK, at last!
