Tuesday, January 20, 2009

My mind maybe changing...

I've never been the most patriotic person, but as I watched what was unbelievable come to pass, officially, today. I am struck and feel motivated to post one of my favorite pieces by Frances Ellen Watkins Harper- one of the 1st Black women to have works published in the 1800's. Her poem, "Bury Me in A Free Land" resonates more with me now than at any other time in my life. Let me know your thoughts...


"Bury Me in a Free Land" is a poem by Frances Harper, an African American abolitionist and poet.

Make me a grave where'er you will,
In a lowly plain, or a lofty hill;
Make it among earth's humblest graves,
But not in a land where men are slaves.

I could not rest if around my grave
I heard the steps of a trembling slave;
His shadow above my silent tomb
Would make it a place of fearful gloom.

I could not rest if I heard the tread
Of a coffle gang to the shambles led,
And the mother's shriek of wild despair
Rise like a curse on the trembling air.

I could not sleep if I saw the lash
Drinking her blood at each fearful gash,
And I saw her babes torn from her breast,
Like trembling doves from their parent nest.

I'd shudder and start if I heard the bay
Of bloodhounds seizing their human prey,
And I heard the captive plead in vain
As they bound afresh his galling chain.

If I saw young girls from their mother's arms
Bartered and sold for their youthful charms,
My eye would flash with a mournful flame,
My death-paled cheek grow red with shame.

I would sleep, dear friends, where bloated might
Can rob no man of his dearest right;
My rest shall be calm in any grave
Where none can call his brother a slave.

I ask no monument, proud and high,
To arrest the gaze of the passers-by;
All that my yearning spirit craves,
Is bury me not in a land of slaves.

Another Day to Remember - Tuesday, 1/20/09

I'm not sure if this was a rhetorical question or not, but I was thinking of my ancestors...

- my grandfather, an entrepreneur (1900-1970) who raised 7 children with only a 4th grade education (state of AL)
- my grandmother, a strong african american woman (1912-2006) who was only able to go to the 6th grade (AL), but always encouraged her children and grandchildren to do their very best
- those ancestors that were slain due to the Trans-Atlantic slave trade (from Guinea Bissau and other areas), due to manifest destiny and trail of tears and due to lynchings in AL (up to a 1995 police brutality lynching)

Throughout the day, I've flipped channels mainly focusing on BET, TV One and ABC. While ABC is the more "polished" news outlet, only on BET & TV One can we be reminded of the true deeper meaning of all this for African Americans. How amazing it is to see a Black First Family standing on the very mall layed-out by Benjamin Banneker...an area, too, where slaves were sold as chattel. I'm still in disbelief!



Sonjanita L. Moore, NBCT, M.A., M.Ed