Langston Hughes #1390

Caption from poster__      Langston Hughes   I speak in the name of the black millions Awakening to action. Let all others keep silent a moment I have this word to bring, This thing to say, This song to sing: Bitter was the day When I bowed my back Beneath the slaver's whip. That day is past. Bitter was the day When I saw my children unschooled, My young men without a voice in the world, My women taken as the body-toys Of a thieving people. That day is past. Bitter was the day, I say, When the lyncher's rope Hung about my neck, And the fire scorched my feet, And the oppressors had no pity, And only in the sorrow songs Relief was found. That day is past. I know full well now Only my own hands, Dark as the earth, Can make my earth-dark body free. O thieves, exploiters, killers, No longer shall you say With arrogant eyes and scornful lips   Poet, writer, playwright. Born February 1, 1902 in Joplin, Missouri. After publishing his first poem, "The Negro Speaks of Rivers" (1921), he attend