by Timothy K. Robinson
Brought to Virginia in 1619
Chained into slavery against our will
Forced to work by the whip
Tilled the ground until our backs broke.
We had a lifetime of humiliation
It was a long road to trod to FREEDOM
Crispus Atticus was the first to die for American Independence.
Nat Turner led a bloody revolt.
John Brown cried The evils of slavery.
Fredercik Douglas wrote "The North Star."
Harriett Tubman led the Underground RAilroad.
It was a long road to trod to freedom.
In 1863 Lincoln said we were free.
But racism forced us to be second class Americans.
We were poorly educated.
Even our women were mistreated
...While our men were lynched, hanged.
It was a long to trod to freedom.
We were told not to vote
To the back of the bus we sat
Then one day on the bus Rosa Parks
refused to move back.
Dr King and the South marched
Churches and homes were bombed
And our Black children died.
Northern cities rioted and burned
Malcom X taught us to be proud
Yet it is a long road to trod to freedom
Today there are few jobs for the Blacks
Crack and drugs are ravaging our streets
Our children are hungry
Young Black men are killing one another
There is yet a lack of education
There is yet job discrimination
But we must continue the fight as in the
past,
For we yet have a long road to trod to freedom.
But with God's help we will make it.
