A. Fay Jordan; Half-Century Magazine, July 1917
Go it, black boy, go it?
Oh, never hesitate;
You cannot be victorious
If you stand around and wait.
Category Archives: Injustices and Burdens
Race Troubles in Dixie (1903)
E. G. Thomas [Baptist College, Atlanta, Ga.); Richmond Planet, March 28, 1903
Times is mi’ty rough in Dixie;
Satan’s in de very air.
Holt on life sorter risky,
Trouble’s broodin’ ev’rywhere. Continue reading
The Negro’s Challenge (1915)
Carrie Parker Taylor; Chicago Defender, September 25, 1915
You complain, my brother, my lily white brother, Of our poor race now and then, Yet you never have said what we should do To prove to you that we're men. Continue reading
E Pluribus Unum (1917)
Edna Perry Booth; Chicago Defender, August 4, 1917
I wonder if Abe Lincoln can look down from where he is,
And see the things that happen in this land that once was his;
I wonder if his heart aches; if the fears bedim his eyes;
If heaven is not quite perfect for him, beyond the skies. Continue reading
To America (1917)
James Weldon Johnson; Crisis, November 1917
How would you have us, as we are
Or sinking ‘neath the load we bear?
Our eyes fixed forward on a star
Or gazing empty at despair?
Rising or falling? Men or things?
With dragging pace or footsteps fleet?
Strong, willing sinews in your wings?
Or tightening chains about your feet?
Jim Crow Cars ( 1902)
H. M. Leamon (Hagerstown, Md.); Baltimore Afro-American Ledger, January 25, 1902
Fear not, yea sons of Africa,
To ride on Jim Crow Cars,
The kind of cars we ride upon
Does not decide life’s bars. Continue reading
In the Matter of Two Men (1915)
James D. Corrothers; Crisis, January 1915
One does such work as one will not, And well each knows the right; Though the white storm howls, or the sun is hot, The black must serve the white. Continue reading
The Tenth (1916)
Ralph Rankin Murray (Intelligencer, Lancaster, Pa.); African-American, July 8, 1916
Ah! it’s “niggers” on the street,
When you face the rapid-fire guns all alone–
Yes! they do you honor then,
You’re the tithe of mounted men,
And you’re the heroes when the fightin’ has been done;
But you’re not the army’s “crack,”
‘Cause your skin is brown and black–
And you face the rapid-fire guns all alone.
How the people cheer and shout,
How they bow and turn about,
When the troop is torn and riddled by the shell;
Then they open up the ranks,
And they send their puny thanks
When you’re rode into the mouth of living hell;
But your troop is not the “crack”
‘Cause your skin is brown and black–
And you ride amid the deathly shot and shell.
Yes! it’s “please to go away,”
And it’s “come some other day,”
And it’s only “cold black niggers” when you’re home.
Ah! but when it’s time to fight,
Then your tarnished souls are white
And the meager lauding honors start to come;
But your troop is not the “crack”
‘Cause your skin is brown and black–
And it’s only “coal-black niggers” when you’re home.
You were Johnnie on the spot
When the Cuban fire was hot,
And they praise you when you’re dyin’–noble Tenth;
When you have to face the guns,
then you’re Uncle Sammy’s sons,
And they only praise your fightin’ brutal strength;
And your troop is not the “crack”
‘Cause your skin is brown and black–
But they praise you when you’re dyin’–noble Tenth.
The Cry of the Man That’s Down (1912)
Norman D. Lippincott (identified as “A white man of Asheville, N.C.”); Crisis, June 1912
Oh! White Man! Now the world is thine, alone;
We till your land, and care for what has grown;
We raise your children, and neglect our own;
We work, and thou dost reap what we have sown. Continue reading
Just a Little Tired (1916)
Katharine Gilliard; Crisis, March 1916
Just a little tired, waiting
Through the night
For the new day to be breaking
Into light. Continue reading
