ABSTRACT
On a cross erected in the Jamaican countryside, in one of the most harrowing scenes of Sylvia Wynter’s 1962 novel The Hills of Hebron, Brother Moses—spiritual prophet, black savior, and protagonist—hangs. Assisted in the endeavor by two of his most trusted disciples, Brother Moses insists his sacrifice will bring about in the freedom so longed for by the community he leads. Confident in his ability to usher in salvation from white supremacy, Brother Moses undergoes crucifixion so that “the blackness which was their secret shame would be atoned for, would become their pride, their joy” (Wynter [1962] 1984, 225). His sacrifice is supposed to be the culmination and affirmation of a project to which the New Believers had dedicated their lives. For such a time as this, the revivalist sect retreats from Jamaica’s social scape. For such a freedom as this do they build their utopia. Faith, however, falls short of glory, and Brother Moses tragically fails where the white Christian God proved so victorious. Instead, the New Believers wave palm branches not at a resurrected man but at the corpse of one whose terror is so apparent it silences the singing.
