Georgia Douglas Johnson, "Courier" (1926)
Where are the strong men?
Pygmies rise and spawn the earth,
Weak-kneed, weak-hearted and afraid!
Afraid to face the counsel of their timid hearts,
Afraid to look men squarely—
Down they gaze
With fatal fascination—
Down,
Down
Into the whirling maggot-sands
Of prejudice!
Published in The Crisis, November 1926