Today, only three original copies of this version of the Bible exist, but there is one undeniable truth. This so-called ‘Slave Bible’ was created to indoctrinate and oppress enslaved Black people. How did white missionaries manage to do this?
In 1807, English missionaries went to the British West Indies to convert enslaved people to Christianity. Rev. Beilby Porteus, Bishop of London, instructed missionaries to shorten prayers and to select scriptures that encouraged enslaved people to obey their masters.
But of course, that wasn’t hard to do given one important fact about the way Europeans manipulated the Bible.
They edited the Bible – heavily! Of the 1,189 chapters in the Bible, only 232 remained. Specifically, any mentions of equality or freedom were removed. And that’s not all.
They also used ideas of anti-Blackness and white superiority to inform the way they translated the Bible – the English created the “King James Version” of the Bible – just as they did in all their literature and art.
The “Slave Bible” was an attempt to control Black people by leaving out anything that might inspire ideas of liberation in our people. There’s an unholy alliance between lies and omissions from history AND religion – and recognizing this truth is crucial if we’ll ever get truly free.