Townsend Allen, "Columbia's Disgrace" (1903)
But blacker by far was the lawless creed
Of those lawless men with their faces white
Who avenged the deed in the dead of night!
For black were the hearts of that howling mob,
And worthy of Hades their fiendish job!
A shudder of horror around the globe ran,
At this beastly revertal of civilized man!
The earth holds no record of more barbarous scene,
No wild, savage orgie in history's dark screen
Surpasses in demon-like hatred and spite,
The deed of those white men that shameful night.
And this, on Columbia's "land of the free!"
Beneath the bright flag whose stars all decree
A perfect equality, justice; above all
Protection by law, until those stars fall!
And this, when we reprimand Russia, in sooth!
And prate of our liberty, freedom and truth!
The nations of earth point the finger of scorn
At Columbia's banner, blood stained and torn!
Shame! shame on the brutes who let loose on the land
This Spirit of Lawlessness! 'Twas Southern hand.
First took up the fagot, the torch and the stake,
And started these fires which 'twill take blood to slake.
Defiant of law, both of man and of heaven,
They lynched and they roasted alive! Now this leaven
Contagious is working; but God is not blind;
They'll reap the wild whirlwind, who sow the wind!
Published in Colored American Magazine, August 1903