The Black Power Revolt opens with this poem
Since 1619
How may years since 1619 have I been singing Spirituals?
How long have I been praising God and shouting hallelujahs?
How long have I been hated and hating?
How long have I been living in a hell for heaven?
When will I see my brother's face wearing another color?
When will I be ready to die in an honest fight?
When will I be conscious of the struggle-now to do or die?
When will these scales fall away from my eyes?
What will I say when days of wrath descend:
When the money-gods take all my life away;
When the death knell sounds
And peace is a flag of far-flung blood and filth?
When will I understand the cheated and the cheaters;
Their paltry pittances and cold concessions to my pride?
When will I burst from my kennel and angry mongrel,
Lean and hungry and tired of my dry bones and years?
—Margaret Walker