I was reading something a few days ago, - I forget how I came across it, just reading and following various links, I guess - at any rate, I came across a photojournalistic piece on slavery. There were some pictures on the collection of male slaves and the scarring on their backs...

I've been trying to think about whether it would be useful in anyway to write about that. Obviously no one blogging here has experienced that, and I'm not sure what the point would BE. As moving as the pictures are - especially to people who are very empathetic- I'm not sure that writing about it, or perhaps sharing the links, would really be able to be connected to a current argument....

lemme know what you think about it.

Lovely, Tonya. I hope, together we can become truly,"one nation, under God". No more separations by groups. I don't know if we can get there, but it is a goal worth fighting for.
Peace to you,
marsha

Is your Patriotism challenged?

Oh, and create a real profile to have credibility.

I have painted images of many time periods in my poem. Maybe you should read it again, since there was a great deal you didn't observe, like my sign off of Tonya J.

The fact that it evoked emotion in you is great, but I refute that my poem isn't uplifting though hurtful.

"no one black or white....... has experienced that on this blog" You can't be serious with this statement? Tell that to Dr. Kings, family, friends and children! Although slavery was long ago, inequality and discrimination remains.

My mother and father lived through segregation. My maternal grandmother born of sharecropper in the early 1900's in the segregated south couldn't read and write because she had to work as a maid. Being a person of light skin, I still endure the "house negro, field negro mentality". We all deal with the effectives of our brutal past. I wish the days of inequality were gone!

I don't suggest attempts to be color blind. I suggest we not deny social differences or pretend to be color blind; appreciate and celebrate cultural differences.

Because racism is not as in your face, and we have examples of many African American successes, complicity becomes an immense obstacle. With each of our efforts things continue to improve.

Lovely poem

and yes, it is important to remember and tell the story, especially those stories that are not so happy so that we will be reminded to not repeat them.

It reminds us of our past and future challenges.

Thank you for sending this to me.

Dee Anna

Methodist Hymnal is considered the black national anthem by many congregations:

Lift every voice and sing, till earth and Heaven ring,
Ring with the harmonies of liberty;
Let our rejoicing rise, high as the listening skies,
Let it resound loud as the rolling sea.
Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us,
Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us;
Facing the rising sun of our new day begun,
Let us march on till victory is won.

Stony the road we trod, bitter the chastening rod,
Felt in the days when hope unborn had died;
Yet with a steady beat, have not our weary feet,
Come to the place for which our fathers sighed?
We have come over a way that with tears has been watered,
We have come, treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered;
Out from the gloomy past, till now we stand at last
Where the white gleam of our bright star is cast.

God of our weary years, God of our silent tears,
Thou Who hast brought us thus far on the way;
Thou Who hast by Thy might, led us into the light,
Keep us forever in the path, we pray.
Lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met Thee.
Lest our hearts, drunk with the wine of the world, we forget Thee.
Shadowed beneath Thy hand, may we forever stand,
True to our God, true to our native land.

You can listen to the music to this song here:
Link

More on this hymn from gbod.org/worship:

Words: James Weldon Johnson (1871-1938)
Music: J. Rosamond Johnson (1873-1954)

February 12, 2005, marks the 105th anniversary of the composition and first performance of the hymn, "Lift Every Voice and Sing," by brothers James Weldon Johnson and J. Rosamond Johnson. The date is no accident, since the hymn's first performance was in Jacksonville, Florida (February 12, 1900), in a children's musical celebration of the birthday of President Abraham Lincoln (born February 12, 1809).

James Weldon Johnson and his brother, John Rosamond Johnson, were born in Jacksonville, Florida. They were active in musical and educational endeavors in their hometown. James Weldon studied law and in 1897 became the first African American admitted to the Florida bar. He served under two American presidents, Theodore Roosevelt and William Taft, as consul in Venezuela (1906-09) and then Nicaragua (1909-12). He later became Field Secretary (1916-20) and Executive Secretary (1920-30) of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). In 1930 James Weldon became professor of creative literature at Fisk University in Nashville.

J. Rosamond taught music in the Jacksonville public schools, eventually becoming music supervisor for that city's "colored" schools. He was also a Baptist church organist and choir director and taught music at the Baptist Academy in Jacksonville. It was during one of these school musical programs that "Lift Every Voice" received its first performance.

In 1901 the brothers went to New York and became active in vaudeville, producing a string of successful songs and musicals prior to World War I. They collaborated on and published over 200 songs for the Broadway musical theatre, as well as two books of American Negro spirituals in 1925 and 1926. In addition to his collaborations with his brother, James Weldon was a prolific author and poet, and his works include two volumes, Fifty Years and Other Poems (1917) and God's Trombones (1927). James Weldon was an important figure in the Harlem Renaissance movement, a group of African American writers and artists in New York City. J. Rosamond was also a professional actor and played a leading role in the original production of Porgy and Bess in 1935.

"Lift Every Voice and Sing" is regarded by many African Americans as a "national anthem" because of its profound association with the struggle for equality and civil rights in the USA. It is taught at an early age in African American homes, schools, and churches, and is often sung at civic, cultural, and patriotic gatherings. The hymn is being included in an increasing number of denominational and independent hymnals and songbooks, including The United Methodist Hymnal (number 519) and Songs of Zion (Abingdon Press, 1981, number 32). It is worth remembering that the 1921 copyright date of the Edward B. Marks Music Co., which is included in many of these hymnals, has expired, and the hymn is now in the public domain. Arrangements of the hymn, however, such as the one by Verolga Nix in Songs of Zion (number 210) are still protected by copyright.

The Text

Meter. The United Methodist Hymnal assigns the meter for this hymn as Irregular, true only in the sense that it may be in a meter unique to this hymn, that is, a non-standard meter. It actually falls into the pattern of 12.10.12.10.14.14.12.10; a design which yields a rather standard and simple AABA form.

Form. The text is strophic, without repetitions of text or refrain. The rhyme scheme is abcbddee.

Content and Mood. There are three stanzas presented in a very intentional order. It would be a great injustice to eliminate any of these stanzas. Stanza one is a call to freedom and rejoicing, if not born out of the actual experience of African Americans, then out of their joy of faith and the promise of hope they have in being faithful people of God. Stanza two turns more serious, even somber, in its biographical depiction of slavery, with unpleasant and graphic description of the "bitter chastening rod," a time when "hope unborn had died," "a way that with tears has been watered," and the "path thru the blood of the slaughtered." Stanza three, although a prayer, is also a lament. Even the Psalmist rarely achieves such a sense of desolation and suffering.

The mood, then, moves from celebration through a gloomy description of circumstances into an intense expression of longing for God to remain ever present. God is there even in the "weary years" and "silent tears." It is a prayer for God to "keep us forever in the path," not the path of suffering and oppression, but the path of God's grace, mercy, promise, and love. It is a prayer that, no matter how harsh our circumstances, no matter how much we suffer, we remain in God's embrace.

This spirit of ultimate optimism, even in the face of such suffering, is further reflected in the last two phrases of each stanza. As the mood of the stanzas becomes increasingly dark, increasingly intense, each stanza concludes with a positive affirmation of trust and hope.

It is significant that there is not even one appearance in this hymn of a singular pronoun — all are plural. The hymn is a shared expression of an entire people with common sufferings, common strivings, and common hopes. And this accounts for the importance of this hymn to African Americans of all faiths, and for its being regarded as a national anthem.

I hope to see more from Tonya