Editing Promised Land (section)

=== African-American spirituals ===
African-American [[Spiritual (music)|spiritual]]s invoke the imagery of the "Promised Land" as [[heaven]] or [[paradise]]<ref>
For example:
{{cite book
 | last1 = Beaulieu Herder
 | first1 = Nicole
 | last2 = Herder
 | first2 = Ronald
 | title = Best-loved Negro Spirituals: Complete Lyrics to 178 Songs of Faith
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=FdsVXYkMTJEC
 | series = Dover Books on Music
 | date = January 2001
 | location = Mineola, New York
 | publisher = Courier Corporation
 | pages = 1, 10, 33, 58
 | isbn = 9780486416779
 | access-date = 8 November 2020
}}
</ref> and as an escape from [[Slavery in the United States|slavery]], which could often only be reached by death.{{Citation needed|date= December 2019}} The imagery and term also appear elsewhere in [[popular culture]], in sermons, and in speeches such as [[Martin Luther King Jr.]]'s 1968 "[[I've Been to the Mountaintop]]", in which he said:

<blockquote>I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land. So I'm happy, tonight. I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.<ref>{{cite speech|url=https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkivebeentothemountaintop.htm|title=I've Been to the Mountaintop|date=3 April 1968|first1=Martin Luther|last1=King, Jr.}}</ref></blockquote>