Category: Black History
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Sympathy
“I know why the caged bird sings.” Paul Laurence Dunbar’s 1899 masterpiece is a searing exploration of freedom and confinement. Read the poem that inspired generations of writers.
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Preface to “The Reason Why”
“We only ask a fair and impartial hearing.” In 1893, Ida B. Wells stood at the gates of the Chicago World’s Fair to protest the erasure of Black achievement. Read the powerful preface to her pamphlet “The Reason Why,” a masterclass in truth-telling and historical correction. – Ida B. Well
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An Appeal to Women
“We are thy sisters, Oh, woman, woman in thy brightest hour Of conscious worth, of pride, of conscious power”
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from “The Octoroon” by Alberry Alston Whitman (1851 – 1901)
“…What man is there who would not dare defend A life like this? Is doing so a sin?”
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“Beehive”
“Silver bees intently buzzing, Silver honey dripping from the swarm of bees Earth is a waxen cell of the world comb,”— from “Beehive” by Jean Toomer
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“If We Must Die”
“Oh, Kinsmen! We must meet the common foe; Though far outnumbered, let us still be brave, And for their thousand blows deal one death-blow!…”— from “If We Must Die” by Claude McKay
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A Song for Myself
“The corn Will fat A hog Or rat:” — from “A Song for Myself” by Melvin B. Tolson
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From “An Anniversary Poem, Entitled, ‘The Progress of Liberty” by James Madison Bell (1826 – 1902)
“Though slavery’s dead, yet there remains A work for those from whom the chains Today are falling one by one; Nor should they deem their labor done,”— from “An Anniversary Poem, Entitled, ‘The Progress of Liberty” by James Madison Bell
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On Being Brought from Africa to America
“Some view our sable race with scornful eye, “Their colour is a diabolic die.” Remember, Christians, Negros, black as Cain, May be refin’d, and join th’ angelic train.” — from “On being brought from AFRICA to AMERICA.” by Phillis Wheatley
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“Lift Every Voice and Sing”
“God of our weary years, God of our silent tears, Thou who has brought us thus far on the way; Thou who has by Thy might Led us into the light,” — excerpt from “Lift Every Voice and Sing” by James Weldon Johnson
Stanza & Story 