The Works of James M. Whitfield: America and Other Writings by a Nineteenth-Century African American Poet

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Poems from California 231 POEM²³ “God fixed it certain that whatever day, Sees man a slave takes half his worth away.”²⁴ Thus sang the bard, and yet how long, Eternal God of life and light, The weak have cowered beneath the strong, And might usurped the place of right. Where history’s dawning rays begin To permeate tradition’s shade, We find the ties of race and kin By avaricious greed betrayed, And feeble brothers bought and sold To satiate the thirst for gold; And all along the stream of Time, In every age, in every clime, Have proud oppression’s altars stood, Forever drenched with human blood, Where right is sacrificed to wrong, The feeble offered to the strong. The mitred priest and sceptred king, Their rigid creeds and edicts bring, And bind the human mind in chains, To guard their palaces and fanes; And trembling hosts with fear obey, The bigot’s and the despot’s sway. Class legislation still remains, The fruitful cause of civil strife; 23. From the San Francisco Elevator, 6 May 1870, 3. 24. From Homer’s Odyssey, and cited by Thomas Jefferson in his Notes on the State of Virginia (1787), Whitfield’s probable source. Jefferson refers to this passage in Query 14 just before stating, “I advance it, therefore, as a suspicion only, that the blacks, whether originally a distinct race, or made distinct by time and circumstances, are inferior to the whites in the endowments both of body and mind.” 232 Poems from California And every country’s statutes stains, With blots that sap a nation’s life. Through every age has heard the cry Of zealous shouts for liberty, And marked some peoples rend in twain The links of their oppressor’s chain, And step into the foremost place, Among the freest of the race— Yet all in vain the song arose For Freedom’s triumph o’er her foes; In vain has Freedom’s praise been sung By men of every land and tongue, For those who just had rent the chains From off their own long fettered limbs, Still pouring forth in joyful strains, Proud Freedom’s thrilling battle hymns, Have been among the first to tread Down in the dust a weaker brother, Their own and neighbor’s blood to shed To bind the chain upon each other, And prove their right to freedom’s prize, By showing power to tyrannize. The Greeks adored at Freedom’s shrine; Sages and bards with theme sublime, And thoughts that seemed almost divine, In stirring prose and polished rhyme Rehearse the mighty deeds of those Who triumphed over Freedom’s foes, And watered with their blood the tree Which bore the fruit of liberty— While all around their bondmen stood, Their brethren of a kindred blood, And wrung their fettered hands to see Poems from California 233 Such mockery made of liberty. The Roman also loud proclaimed The people’s voice the voice of God: Then, of such conduct not ashamed, Smote all the earth beneath his rod; Princes and peasants dragged in chains Yoked captive monarchs to his car, Presented at his gorgeous fanes, As lawful trophies of the war, A bloody death to myriad braves, And living death to million slaves. The golden rule in Christian lands Brought aid to Freedom’s just demands: But spite of churches, spite of schools, In spite of Christian creeds and rules, Despotic sway and feudal power, Have ruled unto the present hour— Till Christendom, like heathen lands, Obeys the tyrant’s proud commands, And never daring to complain, Accepts the despot’s iron reins. One favored land at last is found Where pride of rank, and caste, and place, Whose galling chains so long have bound The upward progress of the race Is broken, and true freedom reigns O’er all the Union’s wide domains— Freedom to think and speak the truth, Though tyrants’ vassals cringe and cower; Freedom to train the mind of youth, Unawed by superstition’s power; Freedom of each to think and feel, And spread his uttered thoughts abroad, 234 Poems from California To labor for the common weal, Responsible to none but God. Freedom of speech and of the pen; Free schools, free press, free soil, free men. The principles, the pilgrims brought— When from their native country driven, On rude New England’s coast they sought And found the long desired haven...