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: Poetry
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
The Negro Soldiers (1917)
Roscoe C. Jamison; Crisis, September 1917
These truly are the Brave,
These men who cast aside
Old memories, to walk the blood-stained pave
Of Sacrifice, joining the solemn tide
That moves away, to suffer and to die
For Freedom–when their own is yet denied! Continue reading
The Colored Regiment (1918)
Edna Perry Booth (white), 814 Prospect Place, Brooklyn, N.Y.; Chicago Defender, March 16, 1918
They were calling for men; more men to enlist;
More food for the cannon; more boys to be missed
When the carnage was over. the whites thought it fine,
But the brave ladies were first in line.
The skeptical laughed and said when they knew,
“They know naught of fighting; now what can they do!” Continue reading
Afro-American Hymn, Or Prayer of the Oppressed (1906)
C.O.H. Thoras [?], D.C., L.L.B; Baltimore Afro-American Ledger, October 26, 1906
Tune–America
Great God of Nations, we Have met to offer thee Our chant of praise. Of mercies past we sing Our present sorrows bring, And thy sure promises We ask--fulfill. Bless the race of wailing, Who to Thee are praying, Where 'ere they dwell. Continue reading
We Are Rising (1907)
John W. Gross Jr.; Baltimore Afro-American Ledger, August 10, 1907
Among the saying of our race, Suggestive and surprising; That fill a most exalted place, Is "tell them we are rising." Continue reading
No Danger (1903)
[Washington Star]; Baltimore Afro-American Ledger, July 11, 1903
Children at the circus, Children in the street; Children in their tattered clothes And children fine and neat. Continue reading
(poem in What the People Do column) (1914)
no author; Chicago Defender, October 24, 1914
Stand up! Be counted, O men of the race. The voice of wisdom calleth thee. Continue reading
The Black Man’s Soul (1915)
James D. Corrothers; Crisis, October 1915
A curious giant, years ago,
Blind and black, down the Valley of Woe.
Untutored, and groping in primal night,
He fondled the harp, with a child’s delight. Continue reading
