Were you there when they crucified my Lord

Were you there when they crucified my Lord.  African American spiritual*, perhaps late 19th century. This dramatic spiritual is, like most African American spirituals, of unknown origin and authorship, and it is found in many forms. The most commonly found text is of five stanzas: ‘Were you there when they crucified my Lord?’ ‘Were you there when they nailed him to the tree?’ ‘Were you there when they pierced him in the side?’ ‘Were you there when the sun refused to shine?’ ‘Were you there when they laid him in the tomb?’ A common alternative to stanza 2 is ‘Were you there when they crowned him with the thorns?’ In each stanza these lines are repeated three times, with line 3 inserting the...