#Americans #Blacks
We passed their graves: The dead men there, Winners or losers, Did not care. In the dark
Droning a drowsy syncopated tune, Rocking back and forth to a mellow… I heard a Negro play. Down on Lenox Avenue the other ni… By the pale dull pallor of an old…
When I get to be a composer I’m gonna write me some music abou… Daybreak in Alabama And I’m gonna put the purtiest so… Rising out of the ground like a sw…
Love Is a ripe plum Growing on a purple tree. Taste it once And the spell of its enchantment
When a man starts out with nothing… When a man starts out with his han… Empty, but clean, When a man starts to build a world… He starts first with himself
In the Quarter of the Negroes Where the doors are doors of paper Dust of dingy atoms Blows a scratchy sound. Amorphous jack—o’—Lanterns caper
I work all day, Said Simple John, Myself a house to buy. I work all day, Said Simple John,
Night funeral In Harlem: Where did they get Them two fine cars? Insurance man, he did not pay—
Democracy will not come Today, this year Nor ever Through compromise and fear. I have as much right
I went to the Gypsy’s. Gypsy settin’ all alone. I said, Tell me, Gypsy, When will my gal be home? Gypsy said, Silver,
In places like Selma, Alabama, Kids say, In places like Chicago and New York...
In an envelope marked: PERSONAL God addressed me a letter. In an envelope marked: PERSONAL
I look at the world From awakening eyes in a black fac… And this is what I see: This fenced—off narrow space Assigned to me.
I know I am The Negro Problem Being wined and dined, Answering the usual questions That come to white mind
You sicken me with lies, With truthful lies. And with your pious faces. And your wide, out—stretched, mock—welcome, Christian hands.