Introduction: These truly are the brave -- Part 1. Freedom, democracy, and equality? From colonies to a nation divided -- From "Colored men have their rights that white men are bound to respect" (1863) / Alexander T. Augusta -- From a poem entitled, The Day and the War (1864) / James Madison Bell -- My hero (To Robert Gould Shaw) (1915) / Benjamin Griffith Brawley -- From Clotelle; or the colored heroine (1867) / William Wells Brown -- Crispus attucks (1899) / Olivia Ward Bush-Banks -- "I look forward to a brighter day" (1863) / Samuel Cabble -- "What country have I?" (1847) ; The War with Mexico (1848) ; Peace! Peace! Peace! (1848) ; Fellow citizens: On slavery and the Fourth of July (1852) ; From How to End the War (1861) / Frederick Douglass -- "If I die tonight I will not die a coward" (1863) / Lewis Henry Douglass -- Black Samson of Brandywine (1903) ; The Colored Soldiers (1895) ; Robert Gould Shaw (1900) ; Lincoln (1903) / Paul Laurence Dunbar -- Life at sea during the French and Indian War (Seven Years? War) (1789) / Olaudah Equiano [Gustavus Vassa] -- From Letters from a man of colour on a late bill before the Senate of Pennsylvania (1813) / James Forten -- "True manhood has no limitations of color" (1864) / Charlotte Forten Grimké -- My country (1834) / Sarah Louisa Forten Purvis -- Frederick Douglass speaks before the Anti-Mexican War Abolitionists (2006) ; South of Houston (2006) / Vievee Francis -- Black abolitionists declare rights to revolutionary freedom (1777) / Freedom petition to the Massachusetts Council and House of Representatives -- From an address to the slaves of the United States of America (1843) / Henry Highland Garnet -- It's morning (1940) / Shirley Graham Du Bois -- An appeal to my countrywomen (1871) / Frances Ellen Watkins Harper -- Jefferson in a tight place (1865) / George Moses Horton -- De Ol' Sojer (1916) / Fenton Johnson -- From "Freedom and fear fighting for the Loyalists" (1798) / Boston King -- Memorial wreath (1962) / Dudley Randall -- Robert G. Shaw (1910) / Henrietta Cordelia Ray -- The reason why (1887) / George Clinton Rowe -- Ethiopia's dead (1865) / Sarah E. Shuften -- Song of the "Aliened American" (1852) / Joshua McCarter Simpson -- Commandeering freedom: Robert Smalls pilots the Confederate ship Planter (1864) / Robert Smalls -- "How dare I be offered half the pay of any man, be he white or red?" (1864) / George E. Stephens -- A nurse for the 33rd USCT (1902) / Susie Baker King Taylor -- Bars fight (1855) / Lucy Terry Prince -- Elegy for the Native Guards (2006) / Natasha Trethewey -- The Fifty-Fourth at Wagner (1883) / James Monroe Trotter -- The valiant soldiers (1878) / Sojourner Truth-- From Walker's appeal, in four articles: Together with a preamble to the coloured citizens of the world, but in particular, and very expressly, to those of the United States of America (1829) / David Walker -- Letter accompanying a poem to General George Washington (1776) ; His Excellency Gen. Washington (1776) ; On the death of General Wooster (1980) ; Liberty and peace, a poem (1784) / Phillis Wheatley -- America (1853) / James Monroe Whitfield-- From Hymn to the nation (1877) ; From The end of the whole matter (1877) ; From Twasinta's Seminoles; or, Rape of Florida (1884) / Albery Allson Whitman -- 1812 (1972) / John A. Williams -- Part 2. The United States enters the global stage: Empire, worldwide war, and democracy -- The negro should not enter the army (1899) / A.M.E. Church: Voice of Missions -- "We don't want these islands" (1900) / A black soldier in the Philippine Islands -- Lines (1899) / Samuel Alfred Beadle -- Aftermath: a one-act play of negro life (1919) / Mary Burrill -- A hero of San Juan (1899) / Olivia Ward Bush-Banks -- Acquit yourselves like men: An address to colored soldiers at Grays Armory, Cleveland, Ohio (1917) / Charles Waddell Chesnutt -- Moloch (1921) / Joseph Seamon Cotter Jr. -- From If we must die (1919) / W.A. Domingo -- My country 'tis of thee (1907) ; Close ranks (1918) ; A philosophy in time of war (1918) ; Our special grievances (1918) ; Returning soldiers (1919) / W.E.B. Du Bois -- The conquerors: the black troops in Cuba (1898) / Paul Laurence Dunbar -- Mine eyes have seen (1918) ; I sit and sew (1920) / Alice Ruth Moore Dunbar-Nelson -- A battle in the Philippines (1915) / F. Grant Gilmore -- "The colored soldier . . . properly belongs among the bravest and most trustworthy in the land" (1899) / Presley Holliday -- The negro soldiers (1917) / Roscoe Conkling Jamison -- The new day (1919) / Fenton Johnson -- To America (1917) / James Weldon Johnson -- 'Cruiter (1927) / John F. Matheus -- If we must die (1919) / Claude McKay -- Address to the Country (1906) / Niagara Movement -- From The failure of Negro leadership (1918) / Chandler Owen -- The Wife-Woman (1922) / Anne Bethel Spencer -- A legend of Versailles (1944) / Melvin Beaunorus Tolson Sr. -- The negro soldiers of America: What we are fighting for (1918) / Lucian Bottow Watkins -- Part 3. The Double-V Campaign challenges Jim Crow: World War II -- "Local prejudice, or an official order from Washington" (1982) / Aeron D. Bells -- Negro Hero (1945) ; The white troops had their orders but the Negroes looked like men (1945) / Gwendolyn Brooks -- Guilty (1948) / Ruby Berkley Goodwin -- Tar (1945) / Shirley Graham Du Bois -- Beaumont to Detroit: 1943 (1943) / Langston Hughes -- Black recruit (1948) / Georgia Douglas Johnson -- War memoir: jazz, Don't listen to it at your own risk (1981) / Bob Kaufman -- Negro mother to her soldier son (1943) / Cora Ball Moten -- In darkness and confusion (1947) / Ann Lane Petry -- "We'd rather die on our knees as a man, than to live in this world as a slave" (1943) / Soldiers at Ft. Logan, Colorado -- "An honor to be in the Army and be black, too. We were the beginning." (2004) / Gladys O. Thomas-Anderson -- Valaida (1989) / John Edgar Wideman -- Heart against the wind (1944) / Gwendolyn Williams -- Part 4. Battles at home and abroad from Montgomery to Afghanistan -- From The black woman in the Civil Rights Struggle (1969)/ Ella Baker -- My dungeon shook: letter to my nephew on the one hundredth anniversary of the emancipation (1962) / James Baldwin -- The sea birds are still alive (1977) / Toni Cade Bambara -- From Somebody blew up America (2001) / Amiri Baraka -- "We were pioneers" (2004) / Julius W. Becton Jr. -- I too, hear America singing (1960) / Julian Bond -- From September song: a poem in 7 days (2002) / Lucille Clifton -- Liars don't qualify (1961) / Junius Edwards -- American history (1970) / Michael S. Harper -- "I was sworn into the Army in manacles" (1984) / Robert E. Holcomb -- "Uncle Sam didn't do much for me. I am proud of my service." (2004) / Stephen Hopkins -- God Bless America (1952) / John Oliver Killens -- Strange liberators: A speech at Riverside Church, 4 April 1967 (1967) / Martin Luther King Jr. -- Re-creating the scene (1988) ; The one-legged stool (1988) / Yusef Komunyakaa -- From Mymerica (2006) / Allia Abdullah Matta -- "Pray 4 a quick ending to this" (2004) / Eric Mitchell -- "Everything about war was horrible" (2004) / Janet Pennick -- "I asked to go to Vietnam" (2004) / Marie Rodgers -- From Reflections after the June 12th March for Disarmament (1984) / Sonia Sanchez -- 'Nam (1972) / John A. Williams.
Summary:
This anthology gathers a large set of writings to document the variety and richness of African American perspectives on war and citizenship from the colonial period to the present day.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.