A PRAYER OF THE RACE THAT GOD MADE BLACK

We would be peaceful, Father—but, when we must,
Help us to thunder hard the blow that’s just!

We would be prayerful: Lord, when we have prayed,
Let us arise courageous—unafraid!

We would be manly—proving well our worth,
Then would not cringe to any god on earth!

We would be loving and forgiving, thus
To love our neighbor as Thou lovest us!

We would be faithful, loyal to the Right—
Ne’er doubting that the Day will follow Night!

We would be all that Thou hast meant for man,
Up through the ages, since the world began!

God! save us in Thy Heaven, where all is well!
We come slow-struggling up the Hills of Hell!

—Lucian B. Watkins.


Published in "The Guardian" (Boston), August 30, 1919
Also published in Robert Kerlin, Voice of the Negro, 1919