William Poag; Pittsburgh Courier, December 20, 1924

Who casts a slur on Negro worth, a stain on Negro fame,
Who dreads to won hi Negro blood, or live, or die the same,
Who scorns the warmth of Negro hearts, the clasp of Negro hands?
Let us but raise the veil tonight and shame him as he stands.

The Negro Fame: it rests enshrined within its own proud light
Wherever sword or tongue or pen has fashioned deed or might
From Battle Charge of El Cana to Europe’s thunder tone,
It holds its storied past on high, unrivaled and alone.

The Negro blood! its crimson tide has watered hill and plain
Wherever there were wrongs to crush on freemen’s rights [?] gain;
No dastard thought, no coward fear, has held it tamely by,
When there were noble deeds to do and noble deaths to die!

The Negro heart! the Negro heart! God keep it fair and free.
The fullness of its kindly thought, its wealth of honest glee,
Its generous strength, its ardent faith, its uncomplaining trust
Though every Worshipped Idol Breaks and crumbles into dust.

And Negro hands, aye, lift them up; enbrowned by honest toil
The champions of the world today, the guardians of the soil
When flashed their battle swords aloft, a waiting world might see
What Negro hands could do and dare to keep a people free.

They bore our starry flag aloft through enemy gate and wall
They stood before the foremost rank, the bravest of them all
And when before the cannon’s mouth they held the foe at bay
O, never could the Negroe’s [sic] heart beat prouder than that day.

So, when a craven fain would hide the birthmark of his race,
Or slightly speak of Afric sons before his children’s face,
Breathe no weak word of scorn or shame, but crush him where he stands,
With Negro worth and Negro fame as won by Negro hands.