I am a Negro: Black as the night is black, Black like the depths of my Africa. I've been a slave: Caesar told me to keep his door-steps clean. I brushed the boots of Washington. I've been a worker: Under my hand the pyramids arose. I made mortar for the Woolworth Building. I've been a singer: All the way from Africa to Georgia I carried my sorrow songs. I made ragtime. I've been a victim: The Belgians cut off my hands in the Congo. They lynch me still in Mississippi. I am a Negro: Black as the night is black, Black like the depths of my Africa. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...STELLA'S BIRTHDAY, 1718 by JONATHAN SWIFT THE LAST CAESAR, 1851-1870 by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH THE RUINS OF CORINTH by ANTIPATER OF SIDON CHORUS OF THE CLOUD-MAIDEN: ANTISTROPHE, FR. THE CLOUDS by ARISTOPHANES SONNET: 19 by RICHARD BARNFIELD THE GOLDEN ODES OF PRE-ISLAMIC ARABIA: ANTARA by WILFRID SCAWEN BLUNT |