Aubrey Bowser, "The Brown and the Blue" (1909)
Ye son of Ethiope true!
With hearts a-leap at the bugle call,
At the line of heroes, bronzed and tall,
The brown that wears the blue;
From distant Orient isles they come
Back to the mother strand.
Salute them, trump and sounding drum!
Salute them, heart and hand!
Old Glory's stripes are shining red
With our good soldiers ' gore,
Since Attucks fell and Salem bled,
Black fighters 'neath its folds have led
The fight in every war.
At Pillow and Wagner's hellish fray
On San Juan's blazing hill;
And the blood that flowed at El Caney
Has drenched it deeper still.
What though an envious hate and pride
Upon us fix their bans?
What though our birthright be denied?
One glory they can never bide--
We are Americans!
And when the dangers darkly reach
Across the nation's sky,
We hurl our lives into the breach
To suffer, bleed and die.
Published in Colored American Magazine, August 1909