Tag: african american slavery

African-American America American American Poetry Poetry Uncategorized

“The Bean Eaters” by Gwendolyn Brooks

Post author By TDarris
Post date February 1, 2017
No Comments on “The Bean Eaters” by Gwendolyn Brooks

Listen to “The Bean Eaters” below:

“The Bean Eaters” by GWENDOLYN BROOKS

Read by Teyuna T. Darris

They eat beans mostly, this old yellow pair.

Dinner is a casual affair.

Plain chipware on a plain and creaking wood,

Tin flatware.

Two who are Mostly Good.

Two who have lived their day,

But keep on putting on their clothes

And putting things away.

And remembering …

Remembering, with twinklings and twinges,

As they lean over the beans in their rented back room that is full of beads and receipts and dolls and cloths, tobacco crumbs, vases and fringes.

Gwendolyn Brooks, “The Bean Eaters” from Selected Poems. Copyright © 1963 by Gwendolyn Brooks.

19th century African-American America American American Poetry Black History Celebration Harlem Renaissance Hope James Weldon Johnson Poetry Reflect Uncategorized United States

“The Gift to Sing” by James Weldon Johnson (1871 – 1938)

Post author By TDarris
Post date June 29, 2016
No Comments on “The Gift to Sing” by James Weldon Johnson (1871 – 1938)

Sometimes the mist overhangs my path,
And blackening clouds about me cling;
But, oh, I have a magic way
To turn the gloom to cheerful day—
I softly sing.

And if the way grows darker still,
Shadowed by Sorrow’s somber wing,
With glad defiance in my throat,
I pierce the darkness with a note,
And sing, and sing.

I brood not over the broken past,
Nor dread whatever time may bring;
No nights are dark, no days are long,
While in my heart there swells a song,
And I can sing.

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African-American American Black History Celebration Children

“Thank God For Little Children” by Frances E. W. Harper

Post author By TDarris
Post date April 9, 2015
1 Comment on “Thank God For Little Children” by Frances E. W. Harper

Thank God for little children,
Bright flowers by earth’s wayside,
The dancing, joyous lifeboats
Upon life’s stormy tide.

Thank God for little children;
When our skies are cold and gray,
They come as sunshine to our hearts,

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Tags 19th century, abolition, african american history, african american slavery, american history, American Literature, American poetry, Frances E.W. Harper, Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, Frances Harper, slavery, slavery abolition, slavery abolitionist, Thank God For Little Children

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