I, too, sing America

I, too, sing America.I am the darker brother.They send me to eat in the kitchenWhen company comes,But I laugh,And eat well,And grow strong.

Tomorrow,I'll be at the tableWhen company comes.Nobody'll dareSay to me,"Eat in the kitchen,"Then.

Besides, They'll see how beautiful I amAnd be ashamed--

I, too, am America.

Langston Hughes, 1945

Strange Fruit

Southern trees bear a strange fruit,Blood on the leaves and blood at the root,Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze,Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees.

Pastoral scene of the gallant south,The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth,Scent of magnolias, sweet and fresh,Then the sudden smell of burning flesh.

Here is fruit for the crows to pluck,For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck,For the sun to rot, for the trees to drop,Here is a strange and bitter crop.

Written by Abel Meeropol 1930, recoded by Billie Holiday 1939

Still I Rise

You may write me down in historyWith your bitter, twisted lies,You may trod me in the very dirtBut still, like dust, I'll rise.

Does my sassiness upset you?Why are you beset with gloom?'Cause I walk like I've got oil wellsPumping in my living room.

Just like moons and like suns,With the certainty of tides,Just like hopes springing high,Still I'll rise.

Did you want to see me broken?Bowed head and lowered eyes?Shoulders falling down like teardrops,Weakened by my soulful cries?

Does my haughtiness offend you?Don't you take it awful hard'Cause I laugh like I've got gold minesDiggin' in my own backyard.

You may shoot me with your words,You may cut me with your eyes,You may kill me with your hatefulness,But still, like air, I'll rise.

Does my sexiness upset you?Does it come as a surpriseThat I dance like I've got diamondsAt the meeting of my thighs?

Out of the huts of history's shameI riseUp from a past that's rooted in painI riseI'm a black ocean, leaping and wide,Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.

Leaving behind nights of terror and fearI riseInto a daybreak that's wondrously clearI riseBringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,I am the dream and the hope of the slave.I riseI riseI rise.

Maya Angelou, 1978

Mississippi Goddam

The name of this tune is Mississippi GoddamAnd I mean every word of it

Alabama's gotten me so upsetTennessee made me lose my restAnd everybody knows about Mississippi Goddam

Alabama's gotten me so upsetTennessee made me lose my restAnd everybody knows about Mississippi Goddam

Can't you see itCan't you feel itIt's all in the airI can't stand the pressure much longerSomebody say a prayer

Alabama's gotten me so upsetTennessee made me lose my restAnd everybody knows about Mississippi Goddam

This is a show tuneBut the show hasn't been written for it, yet

Hound dogs on my trailSchool children sitting in jailBlack cat cross my pathI think every day's gonna be my last

Lord have mercy on this land of mineWe all gonna get it in due timeI don't belong hereI don't belong thereI've even stopped believing in prayer

Don't tell me

I tell youMe and my people just about dueI've been there so I knowThey keep on saying "Go slow!"

But that's just the trouble"do it slow"Washing the windows"do it slow"Picking the cotton"do it slow"You're just plain rotten"do it slow"You're too damn lazy"do it slow"The thinking's crazy"do it slow"Where am I goingWhat am I doingI don't knowI don't know

Just try to do your very bestStand up be counted with all the restFor everybody knows about Mississippi Goddam

I made you thought I was kiddin'

Picket linesSchool boy cotsThey try to say it's a communist plotAll I want is equalityfor my sister my brother my people and me

Yes you lied to me all these yearsYou told me to wash and clean my earsAnd talk real fine just like a ladyAnd you'd stop calling me Sister Sadie

Oh but this whole country is full of liesYou're all gonna die and die like fliesI don't trust you any moreYou keep on saying "Go slow!""Go slow!"

But that's just the trouble"do it slow"Desegregation"do it slow"Mass participation

"do it slow"Reunification"do it slow"Do things gradually"do it slow"But bring more tragedy"do it slow"Why don't you see itWhy don't you feel itI don't knowI don't know

You don't have to live next to meJust give me my equalityEverybody knows about MississippiEverybody knows about AlabamaEverybody knows about Mississippi Goddam

That's it!

Nina Simone,