Let us break bread together on our knees
Let us break bread together on our knees. African American spiritual*.
This widely sung spiritual was formed in the West African Gullah/Geechee slave culture that developed in the coastal areas of South-Eastern colonial America, including St Helena Island, Beaufort, and Charleston, South Carolina shown on this map.
It was first transcribed from oral traditions in three versions:
(1) Words only in The Journal of American Folklore (1925), consisting of three invitatory stanzas and a chorus. It is one of sixteen spirituals, along with tales, riddles, and proverbs, compiled in 1923 by pupils of Penn School, Saint Helena Island, South Carolina. The text follows, sts. 2 and 3 abridged...
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MLA style (see MLA Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing, 3rd Ed.)
. "Let us break bread together on our knees."
The Canterbury Dictionary of Hymnology. Canterbury Press. Web. 7 Dec. 2025.<
http://www.hymnology.co.uk/l/let-us-break-bread-together-on-our-knees>.
Chicago style (see The Chicago Manual of Style, 16th Ed.)
. "Let us break bread together on our knees."
The Canterbury Dictionary of Hymnology. Canterbury Press, accessed December 7, 2025,
http://www.hymnology.co.uk/l/let-us-break-bread-together-on-our-knees.