The second part of Book I of "The Canticles" continues the dialogue --
as dramatic monologues -- of those who fostered the transatlantic slave
trade, or who demonized the image of the Negro in the Occident; as well
as those who struggled for liberation and/or anti-racism. In this work,
Dante can critique Christopher Columbus and Frederick Douglass can
upbraid Abraham Lincoln; Elizabeth Barrett Browning can muse on her
African racial heritage and its implications for child-bearing, while
Karl Marx can excoriate Queen Victoria. Book II will focus on Black folk
readings of Scripture, Hebrew and Greek, with a few other religious
texts canvassed too. Book III will narrate the rise of the African
Baptist Association of Nova Scotia.