William Pickens, "Up, Sons of Freedom!" (1924)
We go to war against the wrong;
No longer we th' oppressor's cattle,
We rise as men, ten million strong I
We rise as men, ten million strong!
Shall cowards kill and burn our mothers,
Make bastard-orphans of the young,
And then with threats bestill our tongue,
While life is in our bodies, brothers?
Refrain: Up, up, ye men of bronze!
Breathe now a freeman's breath!
And claim your liberty in life
Or freedom in your death!
With wealth and power the tryants fight us
With laws and mobs and bolts and bars,
But, up! let not these things affright us!
We fight with God and with the stars !
We fight with God and with the stars !
Our pathway may be long and gory—
Precious is freedom, high the price,
Bought ever at a sacrifice—
But at the end we gain the glory !
With ignorance they shall not bind us,
We claim the freedom of the school ;
With sophistries they shall not blind us,
We will be men and no man's tool !
We will be men and no man's tool !
We ask not pity, O oppressor,
Justice alone is our demand,
The right to use our brain and hand,
The right to be our soul's possessor !
We fight the fight of all the ages,
And walk the path of all the just;
We hear the voice of all the sages :
We will be free if die we must!
We will be free if die we must!
No tyrant's torch or gun shall turn us,
We fight for mothers, babes and wives,
We die for these, our dearer lives,
Though the oppressor shoot and burn us!
O Freedom! let thy :pirit charm us!
Let us not heed the coward's fear :
The hand of death can never harm us,
For freedom is than life more dear!
For* freedom is than life more dear!
Jehovah, God of all the races,
Sustain our heart, accept our soul,—
From everywhere to freedom's goal,
Millions of Black Men, turn your faces !
Published in The Messenger, January 1924