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Redacted “Slave Bible” (1807).

https://www.npr.org/2018/12/09/674995075/slave-bible-from-the-1800s-omitted-key-passages-that-could-incite-rebellion
Redacted “Slave Bible” (1807)

About the resource

The Slave Bible was a heavily edited version of the standard Protestant Christian bible specifically created for enslaved Africans in the British Caribbean during the early 1800s, but it was altered.

The “Slave Bible” redacted entire verses, stories, and chapters, including 90 percent of the Hebrew Bible and 50 percent of the New Testament.

It was published in London in 1807 by a missionary organization that sought to convert enslaved Black people to Christianity while removing the stories and any quotes about freedom, liberation, equality, or emancipation (freedom from enslavement). The editors deliberately omitted passages that emphasized freedom, equality, or liberation, while keeping passages that encouraged obedience and submission. It portrayed a version of Christian scripture that supported the plantation system rather than challenged it.

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