AAHB Poetry

’Tis a noble gift to be brown, all brown,

Like the strongest things that make up this earth,

Like the mountains grave and grand,

Even like the very land,

Even like the trunks of trees—

Even oaks, to be like these!

God builds His strength in bronze.

• “The Bronze Legacy”

  by Effie Lee Newsome

  (To a Brown Boy)

• “Still I Rise”

  by Maya Angelou

• “By Myself”

  by Eloise Greenfield

• “Creation”

  by James Weldon Johnson

To be brown like thrush and lark!

Like the subtle wren so dark!

Nay, the king of beasts wears brown;

Eagles are of this same hue.

I thank God, then, I am brown.

Brown has mighty things to do.

• “The Bronze Legacy”

  by Effie Lee Newsome

  (To a Brown Boy)

• “Still I Rise”

  by Maya Angelou

• “By Myself”

  by Eloise Greenfield

• “Creation”

  by James Weldon Johnson

This Great God

Like a mammy bending over her baby

Kneeled down in the dust

Toiling over a lump of clay

Til he shaped it in his own image

Then into it he blew the breath of life

And Man became a living soul

Amen, Amen

• “The Bronze Legacy”

  by Effie Lee Newsome

  (To a Brown Boy)

• “Still I Rise”

  by Maya Angelou

• “By Myself”

  by Eloise Greenfield

• “Creation”

  by James Weldon Johnson

Blest be the hand that dared be strong to save

And blest be she who in our weakness came-

Prophet and priestess! At one stroke she gave

A race to freedom and herself to fame.

• “The Bronze Legacy”

  by Effie Lee Newsome

  (To a Brown Boy)

• “Still I Rise”

  by Maya Angelou

• “Harriet Beecher Stowe”

  by Paul Laurence Dunbar

• “Creation”

  by James Weldon Johnson

Hold fast to dreams

For if dreams die

Life is a broken-winged bird

That cannot fly.

• “Dreams”

  by Langston Hughes

• “Still I Rise”

  by Maya Angelou

• “Harriet Beecher Stowe”

  by Paul Laurence Dunbar

• “Creation”

  by James Weldon Johnson

When others quit

I will demonstrate strength and determination

I cannot do everything but I can do something

What I can do, I must do, what I must do, I will.

• “Dreams”

  by Langston Hughes

• “Still I Rise”

  by Maya Angelou

• “Dream Builders Affirmations”

  by Mychal Wynn

• “Creation”

  by James Weldon Johnson

This Great God

Like a mammy bending over her baby

Kneeled down in the dust

Toiling over a lump of clay

Til he shaped it in his own image

Then into it he blew the breath of life

And Man became a living soul

Amen, Amen

• “Dreams”

  by Langston Hughes

• “Still I Rise”

  by Maya Angelou

• “Dream Builders Affirmations”

  by Mychal Wynn

• “Creation”

  by James Weldon Johnson

I’m a loaf of brown bread

I’m a whatever I want to be

And anything I care to be

And when I open my eyes

What I care to be

Is me.

• “The Bronze Legacy”

  by Effie Lee Newsome

  (To a Brown Boy)

• “Still I Rise”

  by Maya Angelou

• “By Myself”

  by Eloise Greenfield

• “Creation”

  by James Weldon Johnson

’Tis a noble gift to be brown, all brown,

Like the strongest things that make up this earth,

Like the mountains grave and grand,

Even like the very land,

Even like the trunks of trees—

Even oaks, to be like these!

God builds His strength in bronze.

• “The Bronze Legacy”

  by Effie Lee Newsome

  (To a Brown Boy)

• “Still I Rise”

  by Maya Angelou

• “By Myself”

  by Eloise Greenfield

• “Creation”

  by James Weldon Johnson

This Great God

Like a mammy bending over her baby

Kneeled down in the dust

Toiling over a lump of clay

Til he shaped it in his own image

Then into it he blew the breath of life

And Man became a living soul

Amen, Amen

• “The Bronze Legacy”

  by Effie Lee Newsome

  (To a Brown Boy)

• “Still I Rise”

  by Maya Angelou

• “By Myself”

  by Eloise Greenfield

• “Creation”

  by James Weldon Johnson