The Blood of Jesus (1941) is a classic example of the "
race film[?]" genre of films by
African-American directors and casts, geared exclusively for an
African-American audience. This film, written and directed by
Spencer Williams of
Amos and Andy Show[?] fame, is a morality tale about a woman (
Cathryn Caviness[?]) who is accidentally shot to death by her husband. Facing death, she must choose between
Hell, represented as urban life, and
Zion, represented as pastoral America, and between
Satan and
God. The climax comes when she makes her decision at the foot of the cross and wakes up to singing of her church choir. Intended to promote a Black
Southern Baptist ideal of a virtuous rural life, the film was a major success and the most popular hit in its genre.
The film has also been selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry.
All Wikipedia text
is available under the
terms of the GNU Free Documentation License