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! 

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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.

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April Is National Poetry Month! 

JUSTICE AND JIVE

(A History Poem of American Justice)

Attribution: CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT ARCHIVE

MARGARET BLOCK

POET X CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIVIST X FORMER MEMBER OF SNCC

Justice wasn't in America's plan when they took away the Indian Nation's land,
Like the Arapahoe, the Apache, the Cherokee, the Choctaw, the Navajo and many more.
Was it a just plan when you banished them to an isolated land
And infected them with smallpox and hives, you just knew that they wouldn't survive
These injustices can never be justified,
You call it Justice, but it's just another word for Jive.
Where was Justice when slavery abounded,
Perhaps she was helping Old Master keep Swobo's nose to the ground.
They took away his children, his culture, his language and his identity
but they could not take his dignity.
Madame Justice, you can't hide, we charge you with genocide.
You call it Justice but it's just another word for Jive.
Justice was nowhere around when all of the lynchings were going down.
The Klan strung us up and didn't try to hide
Because they knew that Justice wasn't on our side,
When Billie Holliday sang "Strange Fruit," she was singing about dead bodies hanging from a poplar tree.
She could have been singing about you or me.
She knew that justice would never preside,
You call it Justice but Billie called it Jive.
Justice comes with a dollar sign although justice is supposed to be blind.
I can't buy Justice and pay my rent. I make minimum wage with no benefits.
It seems to me that Justice is only for the rich.
If you don't have money Justice will be denied.
You call it Justice but it's just another word for Jive.
If Justice is really color blind then why are so many black and brown brothers doing time?
You lock them up on some homemade facts but that was always your plan of attack.
Langston Hughes once said that justice is a blind goddess to whom we blacks are wise,
Her bandage covers two festering sores that once perhaps were eyes.
You call it Justice but Langston called it Jive.
Madame Justice must be really tired.
She's permitting the cops to do black profiles,
they watch us and stop us for no good reason.
We feel like sitting ducks during hunting season.
It's about time for Justice to be on our side.
You call it Justice, but it's just another word for Jive.
Mr. President, if Justice was really intact, then why did you create the Patriot Act?
Your homeland security is an injustice in disguise
but Mr. Bush, unlike Justice, we're not blind. We all have eyes.
You call it justice but it's just another word for Jive.
Now Mrs. Bush, Justice had to have been deaf, mute and blind
when you helped create No Child Left Behind.
You're setting children up for a great big fall.
Mrs. Bush, an injustice to one is an injustice to all.
Justice should be on the children's side.
You call it Justice, but even the children know it's Jive.
Where was Justice when Katrina went down?
Perhaps she was hiding out with the FEMA director, that incompetent Michael Brown.
The people at the Superdome sent up a prayer in hopes that FEMA
would soon be there but Bush and Brown really didn't care.
They wished that they all had just floated away while they plotted and
lied and created an inexcusable delay, but someone once said that
Justice delayed is Justice denied.
You call it Justice, but we can all recognize Jive.

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April Is National Poetry Month! 

AMERICUS, GEORGIA IN SIXTY THREE

PUBLISHED in 1975

LULU WESTBROOK GRIFFIN 

ONE OF 32 GIRLS LOCKED AWAY IN 1963 IN AN OLD 

CIVIL WAR STOCKADE FOR PROTESTING SEGREGATION IN 

HER HOMETOWN OF AMERICUS, GEORGIA.

CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIVIST X SPEAKER X POET

Attribution: CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT ARCHIVE

Americus, Georgia in sixty three
There were obvious signs of bigotry,
Laws of Segregation were everywhere
White Supremacist Groups did not care.

The hatred they had for People of colour
Was blantant and vicious,
Toward my little sisters and brothers.

There were perpetrators, spectators,
Instigators, violators, Vigilantes, Agitators,
KKKS and NEGRO haters.

We marched with our Placards
And sang The FREEDOM Songs,
We were beaten and jailed
while making History at home.

Many fought for their freedom
to change the JIM CROW LAWS,
Now AMERICUS has signs of "LIBERTY"
And no more Segregated walls.

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 April Is National Poetry Month! 

AMERICA

Attribution: CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT ARCHIVE

ZELLIE RAINY ORR

FORMER FREEDOM SCHOOL STUDENT

I have believed in America
though she has never believed in me;
she enslaved my ancestors
in her Land of Liberty.

She used me in building America
but refused to give me pay;
even manipulated justice
to look the other way.

She gave me an education
second-rate at that;
and blames me for illiteracy,
poverty, and rats.

She threw me in her crowded jails
even beat me unmercifully;
when I stood up for my civil rights
and protested peacefully.

She brainwashed my mind—
destroyed my self-esteem;
denied me my God-given right
to be the best, I can be.

I see her flag of freedom
flying majestically for all to see;
but I know her stars and stripes
do not wave to me.

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 ApApril Is National Poetry Month! 

I TOO, HEAR AMERICA SINGING

Attribution: CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT ARCHIVE

JULIAN BOND

CO-FOUNDER OF THE SNCC X CO-FOUNDER OF THE SPLC X 

CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIVIST X POLITICANX WRITER X PROFESSOR

I too, hear America singing 

But from where I stand
I can only hear Little Richard
And Fats Domino.
But sometimes
I hear Ray Charles
Drowning in his own tears
or Bird
Relaxing at Camarillo
Or Horace Silver doodling,
Then I don't mind standing
a little longer.

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April Is National Poetry Month!

TO BE BLACK IN AMERICA

APPEARED IN "ROCKS CRY OUT," PUBLISHED BY 

BROADSIDE PRESS.

Attribution: CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT ARCHIVE

NANCY LEVI ARNEZ 

POET X EDUCATOR

To be black in America
Is to be constantly scorned—
To be forever mourned

It's a tearful eye.
It's a gasping sigh.

It's a tearful eye. 

It's a gasping sigh.

To be black in America
Is to be shoved to the side—
To be drowned in the tide;
It's a fist of hate.

It's a bolted gate.

To be black in America
Is to be treated like dirt—
To be forever hurt.
It's a way of life.
It's endless strife.

To be black in America
Is to never be free—
To be cut from a tree.
It's a sea of woe.
It's a swift death blow.

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