"Those who profess to favor freedom, yet deprecate agitation, are
men who want crops without plowing up the ground. They want rain
without thunder and lightening. They want the ocean without the awful
roar of its many waters. This struggle may be a moral one; or it may be
a physical one; or it may be both moral and physical; but it must be a
struggle. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it
never will." Frederick Douglass
Please check back soon to find out what actions B-PEP are taking to improve the lives and conditions of African Americans in Pittsburgh and Allegheny County.
We would like for you to join us in these efforts.
"Lift Every Voice and
Sing"
by James Weldon Johnson
Originally written by Johnson for a presentation in celebration of the birthday of Abraham Lincoln. This was originally performed in Jacksonville, Florida, by children. The popular title for this work is "The Negro (Black) National Anthem."
Lift every voice and sing
Till earth and heaven ring,
Ring with the harmonies of Liberty;
Let our rejoicing rise
High as the listening skies,
Let it resound loud as the rolling sea.
Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us,
Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us,
Facing the rising sun of our new day begun
Let us march on till victory is won.
Stony the road we trod,
Bitter the chastening rod,
Felt in the days when hope unborn had died;
Yet with a steady beat,
Have not our weary feet
Come to the place for which our fathers sighed?
We have come over a way that with tears have been watered,
We have come, treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered,
Out from the gloomy past,
Till now we stand at last
Where the white gleam of our bright star is cast.
God of our weary years,
God of our silent tears,
Thou who has brought us thus far on the way;
Thou who has by Thy might
Led us into the light,
Keep us forever in the path, we pray.
Lest our feet stray from the places, Our God, where we met Thee;
Lest, our hearts drunk with the wine of the world, we forget Thee;
Shadowed beneath Thy hand,
May we forever stand.
True to our GOD,
True to our native land
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