Secular Rhymes and Songs 

a. Slave narrators reported mock-prayers, mock-sermons, and other parodies of the forms celebrated in church.

b. Aside from religion and its purposes, such secular parodies of sacred texts contained their own stinging elements of truth.

c. All materials of play that is sometimes fun and frivolous, sometimes instructive, sometimes frighteningly reflective of violence of American society.

We raise de wheat,
Dey gib us de corn:
We bake de bread,

Secular Rhymes and Songs by Kimberly Vaught July 8, 2004