Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, CITIZENSHIP FOR THE RED MAN, by EDNA DEAN PROCTOR


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

CITIZENSHIP FOR THE RED MAN, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: A mighty nation we have built
Last Line: Merge proudly in american!
Alternate Author Name(s): Dean
Subject(s): Native Americans - History; United States; America


A MIGHTY nation we have built
Of many a race, remote or kin —
Briton and Teuton, Slav and Celt,
All Europe's tribes are wrought therein;
And Asia's children, Afric's hordes,
Millions the world would crush or flout:
To each some help our rule affords,
And shall we bar the Red Man out?

The Red Man was the primal lord
Of our magnificent domain,
And craft, and crime, and wasting sword
Oft gained us mount and stream and plain.
And shall we still add wrong to wrong?
Is this the largess of the strong —
His need to slight, his faith to doubt,
And thus to bar the Red Man out,
Though welcoming all other men?
Nay! let us nobly build him in,
Nor rest till 'ward' and 'alien' win
The rightful name of citizen!
Then will the 'reservation' be
Columbia's breadth from sea to sea,
And Sioux, Apache, and Cheyenne
Merge proudly in American!





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