Townsend Allen, "The New Battle Hymn" (1903)
Again is heard the crying of the children in the night,
They are praying to the Father to defend their legal right,
They are praying him for justice swift against illegal might,
Their race is marching on.
These children of the nation now are growing wise and strong,
They have suffered long in silence, under selfish Southern wrong,
But they know that rank injustice has been meted to them long,
Their race is marching on.
Their rights by constitution have been quibbled quite away,
The ballot taken from them so they ne'er can have fair play;
They're accused and without trial are strung up the selfsame day,
But their race is marching on.
It's "lynch 'em, lynch 'em, lynch 'em, there's no law for black men here,"
"Tar and feather, shoot, and burn 'em, there is nobody to fear;"
"This is the white man's country and no niggers wanted near,"
But their race is marching on.
God's eye doth aye behold them, there's no "color line" on high,
His ear is open to them, He hears every sob and cry;
He sits in righteous judgment, every soul that sins shall die,
Their race is marching on.
The mills of God grind slowly, but they grind exceeding small,
It cost a millions lives or more to make the shackles fall;
'Twill cost a million lives again, the wormwood and the gall,
Their race is marching on.
Published in Colored American Magazine, September 1903