All ye nations, pause a moment! listen to the Negro's voice, <br />Coming up from all vocations where his life has made a choice! <br />Listen to each rank or station, as you cross the sea of time, <br />It is heard in ev'ry nation, any race and ev'ry clime. <br /> <br />If you'll go among the tradesmen and their work of worth inspect, <br />If you'll tarry with the lowly and their lack of skill detect, <br />If you'll travel o'er the planet, filled with thought, with action stirred, <br />In them all you'll find, my brother, that the Negro's voice is heard. <br /> <br />Search the patents of invention, or the soldiers record find, <br />Peep into the author's study, or the poet keep in mind, <br />In the avenues of science or the broadest fields of art, <br />You. will hear the voice of Negroes as they bravely play their part. <br /> <br />As good lawyers and physicians, or as men who're called to preach. <br />As an orator and statesman who the hearts of people reach, <br />As you view the great professions that have made the world rejoice, <br />If you'll listen for a moment, you will hear the Negro's voice. <br /> <br />'Tis a voice that cries for justice, not for favors to be shown, <br />For an equal chance with others, for a manhood of its own, <br />Give that voice a proper hearing in the forum of the world, <br />Then all prejudice and envy from the race will soon be hurled.<br /><br />Lizelia Augusta Jenkins Moorer<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-voice-of-the-negro/
