Poems, Raps, and
Drawings from our Studies on Civil Rights and Black Americans
Who is this man right next to me?
I’ll tell you who it is I see
A child of his mother Africa
Fruit fallen from the tree
His people lived off the land
Over deserts, plains, and prairies
They found no need for currency
No economic worries
Until a people came from oversees
Full of nefarious discountenance
They brought with them ships full of men
And put on manipulative fronts
They claimed that it was all for trade
Some men, some rum, that’s all
If they only knew what this deal entailed
His people would have been appalled
So thus began their foreboding trip
Now the future was quite bleary
Those who survived were far-off worse
Having grown weak and weary
Upon arriving to their destination
These new people changed dramatically
They no longer wore their smirks or smiles
But they spoke maliciously
The children of mother Africa
Soon learned the language of their new home
They now knew words like suffering
Words like hunger and alone
And on this went for many years
How many centuries had past?
How many times had they been bought and sold?
How much longer could this last?
Still, they lived as indentured servants
Through blood, through sweat, through toil
Their backs bent from the whip’s fierce lash
Their hands burnt from the soil
The animosity had grown monotonous
The cruelty never changed
Everyday they worked the land
Picking cotton and cutting cane
For the children of mother Africa
Who contemplated flight
There was a ray of hope at last
There was a chance to fight
At first there was Harriet Tubman
Who was quite the pioneer
She led the underground railroad
Letting her people know a change was near
In time came other leaders
Each one more influential than the last
Then came the emancipation proclamation
They had freedom at last
Who is this man right next to me?
I’ll tell you who it is I see
He is the boycott in Montgomery
He is the march upon D.C.
He is the Harlem renaissance
The time of Langston Hughes
It was the era of his poetry
Of rhythm and of blues
This man is all the B.B. King’s
He is all the Langston Hughes’s
He is the Jackie Robs
He is the Cascius Clays
He is whatever he so chooses
He is Rosa Parks aboard the bus
Simply tired after shopping
The seamstress soon found herself with cops and cuffs
These Jim Crow laws need stopping
The people of Montgomery
Were outraged by this act
White schools, white stores, white water fountains
No longer would they occupy the back
There was a gathering at church that night
A boycott was the plan
The buses would remain empty
Until the Jim Crow laws were banned
The plan had worked but the question was
How would they get around
Car pools, church vans, bikes, and mules
There were even carriages to be found
The people had triumphed at last
With the help of Dr. Martin Luther King
They had won the battle but not the war
So there was no time for rejoicing
Dr. King found it intelligible
That if his goals were to be achieved
It was imperative that he remain non-violent
By protesting peacefully
He needed to take things one step further
His people would not shed another tear
No longer would they tolerate
No longer would they fear
He would march upon our nations capital
Washington D.C.
Thousands of people marched side by side
In hopes of attaining unity
It was there he spoke his infamous speech
Telling the world about his dream
And that everyone should be treated equal
Whether black, white, blue, or green
Before and after Dr. King
There were other leaders too
This man is each and every one of them
He is everything they do
Who is this man right next to me?
I’ll tell you who it is I see
He is unity
He is brotherhood
He is you and he is me
Muhammad Ali Rap
CHORUS: HIS NAME WAS MAHAMMAD
ALI IN THE RING THEY CALLED
HIMTHE KING HE USED TO FLOAT LIKE A
BUTTERFLY BUT STING LIKE A BEE HIS NAME WAS ALI. THE NEXT PERSON WAS
MARTIN
LUTHER KING HE STOOD UP FOR HUMAN RIGHTS AND SAID LET FREEDOM RING.
YO HIS NAME WAS MAHAMMAD ALI HE
WAS AN
INSPIRATION FOR ALL CIVILIZATION
THE RACISM HE WAS
HATIN .HE MADE THE NAME THE
GREATEST FOR HIS SELF AND THIS STUCK HE
HAD THAT FAITH AND THAT LUCKWHEN HE GOT IN THAT RING ALL HE DID WAS
WEAVE DODGE
AND DUCK THEREE WAS ANOTHER MAN BY THE
NAME OF MARTIN LUTHER KING HE PUT HIS MIND AND HEART TOGETHER TO MAKE THIS WORLD A
BETTER PLACE BUT ALL THE COPS DID WAS
MAKE FUN OF HIM AND HIS RACE THEY TOLD HIM HE WASN’ T GONNA BE NOTHING BUT A DISGRACE AND THEN HE WAS SHOT AND ASSASINATED IN THE MIDDLE OF HIS SPEECH .SO
LET ME TEACH YOU ABOUT ANOTHER PERSON HER NAME WAS ROSA PARKS SHE WOULDN’T GIVE UP
HER SEAT TO A WHITE PERSON AND THEN THEY
PUT HER IN
JAIL IN THAT SMALL LITTLE CELL.FOR STANDING UP FOR HER RIGHT TO SIT IN
HER SEAT BUT LOOK AT THE WORLD NOW THAT
THE RACISMS
BEEN PUT TO DEFEAT.
Being
black hold the secrets of its own.
No one knows the encumbrance we suffer
within , to be hated upon by the color of our skin.
The endamaged done to our
right and our lives never affected our dignity and pride .
We had to deal with
Negrophobia and conflict but influential leaders say rise above it .
How can
we?
When we’re being constantly struck to our knees until the point that we
suffer from pustulation in the both of them.
But hey look out because we’re
still standing ,we are rising to the top because equality is what we’re
enhancing .
See through the rough ,rigged , and hard times longanimity is the
reason that we are now able to rise .
Ms.
Holiday
It’s
a melody ,provoked by the harsh
treatment of her past .She has an up tune to make the most rebellious
ear
listen. The rhythm of her body movement would out due swing it self
.Through her
lyrics she brought together American(not black or white ,but
Americans).
Weather if it was right or wrong ,she always spoke the truth .She
expressed
herself through songs such as strange fruit .She made some decision
that cause
her an early death . Through all of these trial and tribulations, she
never
felt sorry for herself. There’s only one woman who made music this way.
I
appreciate the loving memory of Ms.Billie (lady) Holiday