The Gospel of Slavery: A Primer of Freedom

Set against the backdrop of the Civil War, this impassioned work opens in 1864 New York with a bold proclamation of liberty. Through a series of alphabetic sections—A through F—the author weaves poetry and polemic to ask why the promise of equal rights coexists with the brutal reality of slavery. Each stanza poses stark questions about dominion, property, and the moral cost of a nation divided.

The piece moves from the lofty ideal of creation and equality to gritty depictions of bloodhounds tracking runaway slaves, the glitter of cotton fields, and the harsh overseer wielding whip and pistol. It juxtaposes the lofty language of the Declaration of Independence with the grim advertisements for captured fugitives, exposing the contradictions that fuel the South’s “master‑and‑slave” economy. Readers hear the author's urgent call for a new moral compass, urging the nation to confront its own hypocrisy before the conflict consumes it.