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735 Leonard Slade “For My Forefathers” Formerly a professor of English at Kentucky State University in Frankfort, Leonard Slade was born in North Carolina and now writes poetry and teaches in Albany, New York. He has published numerous collections of poems, including Another Black Voice (1988), The Beauty of Blackness (1989), Pure Light (1996), and Lilacs in Spring (1998). His poems have been praised by such luminaries as Maya Angelou and Gwendolyn Brooks. This poem is a tribute to his ancestors, who survived slavery on faith and hope. h For my forefathers Whipped from Africa Where children cried but ships sailed on And plantation owners were animals their roars echoing three-hundred years. For my forefathers Whose fingers pierced cotton bolls Beneath the sun roasting human flesh And darkness told master to rape black women for labor and profit. For my forefathers Whose masters cursed the North And justified the South And debated Lincoln vs. Douglas And cited slaves in the Bible And returned to Africa for more. For my forefathers Who couldn’t read or write But heard freedom ringing 736 The Kentucky Anthology After Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation That taught me to watch And pray for a new day. For my forefathers who loved me. ...

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