Maurice Corbett, "Emancipation Proclamation and Arming of Blacks" (1914)
The first day of the year A.D.,
Eighteen hundred and sixty-three,
Issued Lincoln his proclamation
Of Negro slave emancipation,
Thus adding strength to cause of the nation,
But filling the south with desperation.
Swore they to fill the lands with graves
Before they'd liberate their slaves.
Published in The Harp of Ethiopia, 1914