Dame Poverty Gave Me My Name, And

If I Am Going To Be A Poet At All, I Am Going To Be Poet And Not Negro Poet.

We Shall Not Always Plant While Others Reap

Quaint, Outlandish Heathen Gods Black Men Fashion Out Of Rods

[w]e Have Always Resented The Natural Inclination Of Most White People To Demand Spirituals The Moment It Is Known That A Negro Is About To Sing. So Often The Request Has Seemed To Savor Of The Feeling That We Could Do This And This Alone.

I Was Reared In The Conservative Atmosphere Of A Methodist Parsonage.