Category Archives: The Arts

Black History Month: George Horton—Myself

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Black History Month: George Moses Horton—Myself

I feel myself in need
Of the inspiring strains of ancient lore,
My heart to lift, my empty mind to feed,
And all the world explore.

I know that I am old
And never can recover what is past,
But for the future may some light unfold
And soar from ages blast.

I feel resolved to try,
My wish to prove, my calling to pursue,
Or mount up from the earth into the sky,
To show what Heaven can do.

My genius from a boy,
Has fluttered like a bird within my heart;
But could not thus confined her powers employ,
Impatient to depart.

She like a restless bird,
Would spread her wing, her power to be unfurl’d,
And let her songs be loudly heard,
And dart from world to world.d.

—George Moses Horton

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

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Black History Month: Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me ‘Round

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Black History Month—Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me ‘Round

Ain’t gonna let nobody, Lordy, turn me ’round,
Turn me ’round, turn me ’round,
Ain’t gonna let nobody turn me ’round,
I’m gonna keep on a-walkin’,
Keep on a-talkin’,
Marching up to freedom land.

Ain’t gonna let no jail house turn me ’round,
Turn me ’round, turn me ’round,
Ain’t gonna let no jail house turn me ’round,
I’m gonna keep on a-walkin’,
Keep on a-talkin’,
Marching up to freedom land.

Ain’t gonna let no sheriff turn me ’round,
Turn me ’round, turn me ’round,
Ain’t gonna let no sheriff turn me ’round,
I’m gonna keep on a-walkin’,
Keep on a-talkin’,
Marching up to freedom land.

—Traditional song adapted as a protest song in the 1960s


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Black History Month: Helen Johnson—The Road

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Helene Johnson—The Road

Road to Resilience

Photo credit:
http://www.nativehistoryassociation.org

Ah, little road all whirry in the breeze,
A leaping day hill lost among the trees,
The bleeding note of rapture streaming thrush
Caught in a drowsy hush
And stretched out in a single singing line of dusky song.
Ah little road, brown as my race is brown,
Your trodden beauty like our trodden pride,
Dust of the dust, they must not bruise you down.
Rise to one brimming golden, spilling cry!

—Helene Johnson.

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

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Black History Month: Curtis Mayfield—We’re a Winner

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Black History Month:
Curtis Mayfield—We’re a Winner

The sound of resilience? We’ll just keep on pushin’…

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

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Black History Month: We shall overcome

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Black History Month: We Shall Overcome
Lyrics of traditional gospel song, audio from speech by M.L. King, Jr.

  1. We shall overcome
    We shall overcome
    We shall overcome some day
    CHORUS:
    Oh, deep in my heart
    I do believe
    We shall overcome some day
  2. We’ll walk hand in hand
    We’ll walk hand in hand
    We’ll walk hand in hand some day
    CHORUS
  3. We shall all be free
    We shall all be free
    We shall all be free some day
    CHORUS
  4. We are not afraid
    We are not afraid
    We are not afraid some day
    CHORUS
  5. We are not alone
    We are not alone
    We are not alone some day
    CHORUS
  6. The whole wide world around
    The whole wide world around
    The whole wide world around some day
    CHORUS
  7. We shall overcome
    We shall overcome
    We shall overcome some day
    CHORUS

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

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Black History Month: John Henry

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Black History Month: Ballad of John Henry (an excerpt)

Site of a resilient legend John Henry said to his captain,
“Before I ever leave town,
Gimme a twelve-pound hammer wid a whale-bone handle,
And, I’ll hammer dat steam driver down,
I’ll hammer dat stream drill on down.”

John Henry said to his captain,
“A man ain’t nothin’ but a man,
But before I’ll let dat steam drill beat me down,Commemorating a Resilient Legend
I’ll die wid my hammer in my hand,
Die wid my hammer in my hand.”

The man that invented the steam drill
He thought he was mighty fine,
John Henry drove down fourteen feet,
While the steam drill only made nine,
Steam drill only made nine.

 

Though he lost the war, the legend of John Henry lives on because he stepped up.

In honor of Black History Month, we will post an inspirational cultural item daily.

 

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