SEPTEMBER IS NATIONAL SICKLE CELL AWARENESS MONTH!

April Is National Poetry Month! 

LIFE EVERY VOICE AND SING 

BLACK NATIONAL ANTHEM

JAMES WELDON JOHNSON

RENOWNED HARLEM RENAISSANCEX POET X WRITER X 

NOVELIST X ESSAYIST X EDUCATOR X CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIVIST 

X DIPLOMAT X LAWYER X LYRICIST X PLAYWRIGHT

Lift every voice and sing
Till earth and heaven ring,
Ring with the harmonies of liberty;
Let our rejoicing rise
High as the listening skies,
Let it resound loud as the rolling sea
Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us,
Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us,
Facing the rising sun of our new day begun
Let us march on till victory is won
Stony the road we trod,
Bitter the chastening rod,
Felt in the days when hope unborn had died;
Yet with a steady beat,
Have not our weary feet
Come to the place for which our fathers sighed
We have come over a way that with tears has been watered,
We have come, treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered,
Out from the gloomy past,
Till now we stand at last
Where the white gleam of our bright star is cast
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 lead us into the light,
Keep us forever in the path, we pray.
Lest our feet stray from the places, our God,
Where we met Thee,
Lest our hearts drunk with the wine of the world,
We forget Thee;
Shadowed beneath Thy hand,
May we forever stand True to our God,
True to our native land

April Is National Poetry Month! 

LIFE IS THE ART OF DRAWING

APPEARED IN "TODAY'S NEGRO VOICES: AN ANTHOLOGY BY 

YOUNG NEGRO POETS."

Attribution: CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT ARCHIVE

CAROLYN J. OGLETREE 

POET X PAINTER 

Life is the art of drawing

Lines, oil, paint, and chalk

Red, white and blue

America

Life is the art of drawing

Brushes, pencil on canvas

Red, white and blue

America

Life is the art of drawing

From bed to bed and room to room

Red, white and blue

America

Life is the art of drawing

Boy, girl, marriage

Saint Mary’s church

Red, white and blue

America

Life is the art of drawing

House, car and society

Red, white and blue

America

Life is the art of drawing

5, 4, 3, 2, 1, children-P.T.A.

Red, white and blue

America

Life is the art of drawing

Black and white, no harmony

Red, white and blue

America

Life is the art of drawing

Wars and countless deaths

Red, white and blue

America

Life is the art of drawing

Peace

Red, white and blue

America

Read more about Civil Rights History and Poems @ CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT ARCHIVE

April Is National Poetry Month! 

THE VOICE OF FREEDOM

Attribution: CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT ARCHIVE

ROBERT LEE 

FORMER FREEDOM SCHOOL STUDENT

I am the voice that is heard everywhere;

Each day I struggle to get segregation away from 

here.

I am the voice that men call upon

for Unity

for Brotherhood

for Now

for Eternity

I am the voice of Freedom.

Gaining me is America's task;

Through striving and sacrifice

Segregation will be unmasked.

I am the voice that speaks with great pride:

Segregation and discrimination will be cast aside.

I am the voice that proclaims,

"I will bring justice,"

"I will bring equality."

I am the voice that shouts,

"Segregation is dead."

I am the voice of freedom.

I will be -America! 

Read more about Civil Rights History and Poems @ CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT ARCHIVE

April Is National Poetry Month! 

CHANGING THE AMERICAN STAGE

ELNORA FONDREN 

FORMER FREEDOM SCHOOL STUDENT

Attribution: CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT ARCHIVE

America is a stage life land,

All people have parts to learn in hand.

If I were to walk down the street and say,

"I want my freedom this very day,"

I'd raise my fingers and lift my face,

But my people would look at me in disgrace.

"Why should I try to be free?

I already have my liberty."

The people are walking as statues do;

I have no right to look at you.

My face is different, my face is black,

But why should you want to hold me back?

We are a nation, and it is said,

"A Nation when parted is a stage that's dead."

I was once a patriot true.

Now you try to take me with you:

Not to be brothers and to let me be free,

But only to take care of thee.

I still have to play my part;

I am still a slave in my heart.

To look at our flag, and say to thee,

''I am here, but am I free?"

The Nation of America is never to be

Until we have our liberty.

If Khrushchev walked to my hometown,

I'd try my best to show him around,

Even though he is a man in wrong,

I still would try to help him along.

A man is a man, and life is life;

I am a man, and he is in life.

The trail of freedom is all around,

I wish it would come through this sorrowed town.

In this nation, I want you to know,

I am a citizen, and I want to be treated so.

This nation has got to get together

And leave it to God to decide who is better.

I am here to testify,

I want my freedom, and that ain't no lie.

So Mr. Charlie, you are the best,

But I am as equal as you and the rest.

I am telling you the earnest truth,

We are people just like you.

So get ready for the fright of your life.

These people are going to get their freedom in height.

Try to be ready, try to be strong,

But you won't hold the black man down for long.

Read more about Civil Rights History and Poems @ CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT ARCHIVE

 April Is National Poetry Month! 

ELEGY WRITTEN IN AMERICA 

FRENCH HODGES

POET X ACTOR X EDUCATOR

Born down in Georgia

Died in Tennessee

Non-violence was his method

Love was his plea.

He lived with a dream

Told it to all he met

Many still remember

Others will forget.

Believed in the ballot

Taught it all around

Taught it in the country

Taught it in the town.

In nineteen-hundred, sixty three

He went to cash a check

Tried to cash a check for freedom

America shot him in the neck.

Many things they called him

Nigger, gentle warrior, king,

Fool, dreamer, prophet, saviour,

He who bade freedom ring.

Freedom never did start its ring,

The dream never came true

The check never was cashed,

A debt unpaid comes due.

Born down in Georgia

Shot down in Tennessee

Love was his greatest gift

Freedom was his plea.

April Is National Poetry Month! 

IN MEMORIAM: MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. 

JUNE JORDAN

RENOWNED POET X PLAYWRIGHT X WRITER X ESSAYIST X 

TEACHER X ACTIVIST

honey people murder mercy U.S.A.
the milkland turn to monsters teach
to kill to violate pull down destroy
the weakly freedom growing fruit
from being born

America

tomorrow yesterday rip rape
exacerbate despoil disfigure
crazy running threat the
deadly thrall
appall belief dispel
the wildlife burn the breast
the onward tongue
the outward hand
deform the normal rainy
riot sunshine shelter wreck
of darkness derogate
delimit blank
explode deprive
assassinate and batten up
like bullets fatten up
the raving greed
reactivate a springtime
terrorizing

death by men by more
than you or I can

STOP

2

They sleep who know a regulated place
or pulse or tide or changing sky
according to some universal
stage direction obvious
like shorewashed shells

we share an afternoon of mourning
in between no next predictable
except for wild reversal hearse rehearsal
bleach the blacklong lunging
ritual of fright insanity and more
deplorable abortion
more and
more