behind a veil of prejudice, "Hear my Cry, O God the reader vouch safe that this my book fall not still born into the world-wilderness. Let there spring, Gentle one, from its leaves vigor of thought and thoughtful deed to reap the harvest wonderful."*A href=#Footnote7B name=Footnote7A*Footnote7*/A* *br* The invisibility of Black existence is a recurring theme in other books about Black history. In Raboteau's book slave religion is called, "the invisible institution of the antebellum South."*A href=#Footnote8B name=Footnote8A*Footnote8*/A* Raboteau tries to uncover and bring to light the religious practices of Black slaves, he tried to bring their history out of the veil. Rabatoeu writes how religion for slaves was a way in which, "slaves maintained their identity as persons despite a system bent on reducing them to a subhuman level... In the midst of slavery religion was for the enslaved a space of meaning, freedom, and transcendence."*A href=#Footnote9B name=Footnote9A*Footnote9*/A* Because slave religion was an invisible institution hidden by a veil from white slave masters it provided a way in which slaves could resist social death. The history of Black women is also the history of a people made invisible; hidden behind the veil. Bell Hooks in her study of Black women and feminism tries to bring to light the forgotten past of black women who have also been hidden behind a veil, " Traditionally, scholars have emphasized the impact of slavery on the black male consciousness, arguing that black men more so than black women were the real victims of slavery."*A href=#Footnote10B name=Footnote10A*Footnote10*/A* To Bell Hooks the veil which makes black women invisible to white society is made from an inseparable cloth woven from the threads of racism and sexism. The Black reconstruction period is another area in which scholars have grappled with the consequences o...
