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.

Oh! White Man! Think’st our time is but delayed,
And centuries of servitude’s not made
All cowards of us, suffering, afraid?
Thou’rt right! Thou has a debt which must be paid.

Oh! White Man! In the land from which we came,
We braved the storm, and sought the fiercest game;
Then were we men, and worthy of the name,
And, underneath, our race is still the same.

Oh! White Man! Thou hast, daily, greater need
Of all we do, which thee and us does feed;
Easy the task, if thou wilt let us read;
Give us but knowledge, and ask greater deed.

Oh! White Man! Give us not unheeding ears;
Our cries unheard, ’till after many years;
‘Twill be a time of shattered hopes and fears;
A sombre cycle, filled with blood and tears.