Katherine D. Tillman, "The Annual Celebration" (1902)
Away back in Missouri,
Where they do things up so fine,
When the melons and the pumpkins
Are a-ripening on the vine,
All the loyal Colored people
In that part of the nation
Begin to send their invites out
For their annual celebration.
Few of them take much interest
In affairs of church and state,
Or in the serious, problems
That our statesmen agitate.
But among the Missourians,
Abe Lincoln's Proclamation
Is the occasion every year
For an annual celebration.
The colored folks are all on hand,
To hear again the precious news,
And white folks, too, galore,
They've heard so oft before,
How in the year of sixty-one
The Hero of the nation,
Abe Lincoln, Moses of our Race,
Signed that wondrous Proclamation.
The speech is long, the children tire,
But the old ones laugh and cry,
For they've been through the scorching fire,
And they sit and think and sigh.
The speech is o'er and the band strikes up,
And the well-dressed population,
Grandsires and striplings, all enjoy
Their annual celebration!
Some high strung college preachers,
Just out and up to date,
Said Missouri folks' annual
Was several months too late;
That on the first of January
Abe Lincoln's Proclamation
That freed the nation's host of slaves
Should have its celebration
They ran those preachers out of town—
How could they celebrate
With Jack Frost on the ground?
'Twas the preachers out of date!
But when the watermelons,
That fruit of God's creation,
Are ripe and sweet, Missouri folks
Have their annual celebration.
Published in Tillman's Recitations, 1902