African American Poetry: A Digital Anthology

"Afro-American" by Charles Frederick White (1900)

Published in Colored American Magazine 1.4 (September 1900)

O, country, 'tis of thee,
Land of the Lynching Bee,
   Of thee I sing.
How long will this base wrong
Pollute thy freedom's song?
Perpetrated by a throng
   Of heartless fiends.

My native country, thee,
How I long to be free!
   Thy name to love.
I long to se ethe time
When this most heinous crime
Will be changed to deeds divine,
   Like those above.

Let wailings swell the breeze,
And ring from all the trees:
   "God's will be done."
Let mortal souls awake--
Let all that breathe partake--
This spell of crimes to break,
   Ere the nation's gone.

O gracious God, to thee,
In thine all-wise mercy,
   We now appeal!
May this land soon be brought
Out of this doom it's wrought;
For long, in vain, we've sought
   Freedom to feel. 


Published in Colored American Magazine, September 1900

This page has paths:

This page has tags: