I Sit With Shakespeare And He Winces

How Shall Integrity Face Oppression? What Shall Honesty Do In The Face Of Deception, Decency In The Face Of Insult, Self-defense Before Blows? How Shall Desert And Accomplishment Meet Despising, Detraction, And Lies? What Shall Virtue Do To Meet Brute Force? There Are So Many Answers And So Contradictory; And Such Differences For Those On The One Hand Who Meet Questions Similar To This Once A Year Or Once A Decade, And Those Who Face Them Hourly And Daily.

I Most Sincerely Doubt If Any Other Race Of Women Could Have Brought Its Fineness Up Through So Devilish A Fire.

It Is The Wind And The Rain, O God, The Cold And The Storm That Make This Earth Of Yours To Blossom And Bear Its Fruit. So In Our Lives It Is Storm And Stress And Hurt And Suffering That Make Real Men And Women Bring The World's Work To Its Highest Perfection.

I Believe In Liberty For All Men: The Space To Stretch Their Arms And Their Souls; The Right To Breathe And The Right To Vote, The Freedom To Choose Their Friends, Enjoy The Sunshine, And Ride On The Railroads, Uncursed By Color; Thinking, Dreaming, Working As They Will In A Kingdom Of Beauty And Love.

[we Need Reforms] To Make The Negro Church A Place Where Colored Men And Women Of Education And Energy Can Work For The Best Things Regardless Of Their Belief Or Disbelief In Unimportant Dogmas And Ancient And Outworn Creeds.