A Literary Archaeology of Reverend Hickman’s Juneteenth Sermon in Ralph Ellison’s Second Novel

Abstract

This is an investigation of the intertexts and allusions in Reverend Hickman’s Juneteenth celebration sermon in Ralph Ellison’s second novel (in both published versions). The sermon is of critical importance to Ellison’s post-Invisible Man career. He published an excerpt containing it in 1965 and shared it with a television audience in 1966. The sermon is rich with intertexts, allusions, and literary influences that have yet to be explored. This paper establishes the sermon’s importance and then begins to map its intertextual connections, focusing on a series of 30 adjectives with the suffix “-less” spoken in a total of 80 instances by Hickman and/or Bliss in the course of the sermon. An argument is presented for the influence of Zora Neale Hurston’s novel Their Eyes Were Watching God on this sequence on adjectives, despite Ellison’s youthful dismissal of her work. An argument is presented (offering textual evidence) for Hurston’s influence being connected in Ellison’s thought process with James Joyce’s influence. James Weldon Johnson’s influence is brought into the discussion as well. Another scholar’s argument for C.L. Franklin’s influence is discussed but argued against. The study has implications for Ellison’s conception of the human face as a conduit for communication and for varied forms of possibility, thus connecting this reading of the sermon to some of the major themes of his career. It also has implications for developing a richer understanding of his artistic relation to the work of women writers.

Keywords

• ralph ellison
• sermons
• african american church
• juneteenth
• faciality
• book of ezekiel
• zora neale hurston
• james weldon johnson
• james joyce
• gilles deleuze
• c.l. franklin
• louis armstrong