Philosophy, Poetry, Resilience

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Black History Month: Paul Laurence Dunbar—Philosophy

I been t’inkin’ 'bout de preachah; whut he said de othah night,
   'Bout hit bein’ people's dooty, fu' to keep dey faces bright; 
How one ought to live so pleasant dat ouah tempah never riles, 
   Meetin' evahbody roun' us wid ouah very nicest smiles. 

Dat's all right, I ain't a-sputin' not a t'ing dat soun's lak fac', 
   But you don't ketch folks a-grinnin' wid a misery in de back; 
An’ you don't fin' dem a-smilin' w’en dey's hongry ez kin be, 
   Leastways, dat's how human natur’ allus seems to 'pear to me. 

We is mos' all putty likely fu' to have our little cares, 
    An I think we 's doin' fus' rate w’en we jes' go long and bears, 
Widout breakin' up ouah faces in a sickly so't o' grin, 
   W’en we knows dat in ouah innards we is p'intly mad ez sin.

Oh dey's times fu' bein' pleasant an' fu' goin' smilin roun', 
    ‘Cause I don't believe in people allus totin' roun' a frown, 
But it's easy 'nough to titter w’en de stew is smokin' hot, 
   But hit's mighty ha’d to giggle w'en dey's nuffin' in de pot.

ResilientPoet

In celebration of Black History Month, we will post an inspirational cultural item each day.

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Thriving on Racism

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Robert Gordon: Thriving on Racism

Today we profile our final entrepreneur, Robert Gordon.
We have only found one solid source for information about Robert Gordon but that source is the inestimable Carter G Woodson.
We feel comfortable excerpting his work below.

Formerly the slave of a rich yachtsman of Richmond, Virginia. His master turned over to him a coal yard which he handled so faith- fully that his owner gave him all of the slack resulting from the handling of the coal. This he sold to the local manufacturers and blacksmiths of the city, accumulating thereby in the course of time thousands of dollars. He purchased himself in 1846 and set out for free soil. He went first to Philadelphia and then to Newburyport, but finding that these places did not suit him, he proceeded to Cincinnati. He arrived there with $15,000, some of which he immediately invested in the coal business in which he had already achieved marked success. He employed bookkeepers, had his own wagons, built his own docks on the river, and bought coal by barges.
Unwilling to see this Negro do so well, the white coal dealers endeavored to force him out of the business by lowering the price to the extent that he could not afford to sell. They did not know of his acumen and the large amount of capital at his disposal. He sent to the coal yards of his competitors mulattoes who could pass for white, using them to fill his current orders from his foes’ supplies that he might save his own coal for the convenient day. In the course of a few months the river and all the canals by which coal was brought to Cincinnati froze up and remained so until spring. Gordon was then able to dispose of his coal at a higher price than it had ever been sold in that city. This so increased his wealth and added to his reputation that no one thereafter thought of opposing him.
—C. G. Woodson The Negroes of Cincinnati Prior to the Civil War The Journal of Negro History Vol. 1, No. 1 (Jan., 1916)

Now that’s a resilient entrepreneur.

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Imagination: The Guide to the Resilient Heart

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Black History Month: Phillis Wheatley—Imagination

Below we have excerpted Phillis Wheatley’s Imagination
The full text can be found at Bartleby.com

Imagination! who can sing thy force?
Or who describe the swiftness of thy course?
Soaring though air to find the bright abode,
Th’empyreal palace of the thund’ring God,
We on thy pinions can surpass the wind,
And leave the rolling universe behind;
From star to star the mental optics rove,
Measure the skies, and range the realms above.
There in one view we grasp the mighty whole,
Or with new worlds amaze th’ unbounded soul.

In celebration of Black History Month, we will post an inspirational cultural item each day.

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Black History Month: Words for the Hour

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Black History Month: Frances Harper—Words for the Hour

Men of the North! it is no time
    To quit the battle-field; 
When danger fronts your rear and van 
    It is no time to yield. 

No time to bend the battle's crest 
    Before the wily foe, 
And, ostrich-like, to hide your heads 
    From the impending blow. 

The minions of a baffled wrong 
    Are marshalling their clan; 
Rise up! rise up enchanted North! 
    And strike for God and man.

This is no time for careless ease; 
    No time for idle sleep; 
Go light the fires in every camp, 
    And solemn sentries keep. 

The foe you foiled upon the field 
    Has only changed his base; 
New dangers crowd around you 
    And stare you in the face. 

O Northern men! within your hands 
    Is held no common trust; 
Secure the victories won by blood 
    When treason bit the dust. 

['T]is yours to banish from the land 
    Oppression's iron rule; 
And o'er the ruined auction block 
    Erect the common school. 

To wipe from labor's branded brow 
    The curse that shamed the land, 
And teach the Freedman how to wield 
    The ballot in his hand. 

This is the nation's golden hour, 
    Nerve every heart and hand, 
To build on Justice as a rock, 
    The future of the land. 

True to your trust, oh, never yield 
    One citadel of right! 
With Truth and Justice clasping hands 
    Ye yet shall win the fight!

In celebration of Black History Month, we will post an inspirational cultural item each day.

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Black History Month—Song

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Black History Month: Langston Hughes—Song

Lovely, dark, and lonely one,
Bare your bosom to the sun,
Do not be afraid of light
You who are a child of night.

Open wide your arms to life,
Whirl in the wind of pain and strife,
Face the wall with the dark closed gate,
Beat with bare, brown fists
And wait.
—Langston Hughes

In celebration of Black History Month, we will post an inspirational cultural item each day.

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Black History Month: From the Dark Tower

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Black History Month: Countee Cullen—From the Dark Tower

We shall not always plant while others reap
The golden increment of bursting fruit,
Not always countenance, abject and mute.
That lesser men should hold their brothers cheap;
Not everlastingly while others sleep
Shall we beguile their limbs with mellow flute,
Not always bend to some more subtle brute;
We were not made eternally to weep.

The night whose sable breast relieves the stark,
White stars is no less lovely being dark,
And there are buds that cannot bloom at all
In light, but crumple, piteous, and fall;
So in the dark we hide the heart that bleeds,
And wait, and tend our agonizing seeds.

In celebration of Black History Month, we will post an inspirational cultural item each day.

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