The biblical story of Moses is joined with black folklore in Zora Neale Hurston's Moses, Man of the Mountain, which was reprinted in 1999 by Econo-Clad Books.

The Souls of Black Folk by W. E. B. DuBois contains the essay "Of the Sorrow Songs," one of the earliest and most insightful discussions of the role of the spiritual in portraying the sufferings and hopes of slaves.

Slavery is graphically portrayed, including the role of the spiritual, in the first person narrative The Life and Times of Frederick Douglass.

William Faulkner's novel, Go Down, Moses, deals with racism and the lingering effects of slavery in the South.

The Shaping of Black America by Lerone Bennett provides a gripping historical account of realities of life for African Americans in theUnited States.

Toni Morrison's 1998 novel Beloved is a powerful and tragic story of the...