Dumas’s use of Black music doesn't stop at the Blues. He is equally as fluent in the narrative gospel idiom. Note the gospel story undertone in "Black Star Line":

My black mothers I hear them singing.     Children of my flesh, dip into the river with your ebony cups.  A ship of knowledge sails unto wisdom. Study what mars and what lifts up. Dip into this river with your ebony cups.

In this piece, one can faintly hear hints of the gospel song "Wade in the Water." Dumas urges Black "sons" to take a deep look at their exemplary history and to learn from it.