“The Promises of Scripture Were All for the Black People”: Sojourner Truth on the Blood of Abel and the Lamb

In a speech delivered on July 4, 1854, Sojourner Truth declared “the blood of one man, Abel, did not call from the ground in vain [Genesis 4:10]. The promises of Scripture were all for the black people.” Some recent biographers of Truth interpret this as a reference to the curse of Cain (Genesis 4:11–13), which, they contend, Truth calls down upon white people. Other scholars have shown how some nineteenth-century Black interpreters used the Cain and Abel story to explain white violence and hatred. Building on both lines of research, I argue that Truth typologically links Abel’s blood to the blood of the lamb in Revelation 7:14. In doing so, Truth is not only invoking the curse of Cain and providing an explanation for white hatred but also offering a scriptural promise for Black people.