Lizelia Augusta Jenkins Moorer

Must Be Freed

The ante-bellum Negro prayed,
For God to intercede,
And God in answer to him said,
"Your children shall be freed."

The hand was seen upon the wall,
The fates at once decreed
That Negro bondsmen one and all,
Should soon be free, indeed.

"If Abraham Lincoln's president"
The South said, "we'll secede;"
They apprehended he'd consent,
For Negroes to be freed.

To battle North against the South,
O'er states rights was agreed,
But echo from the cannon's mouth,
Said, "Negroes must be freed."

Confed'rates did with marked success,
McClellan's steps impede,
Till Abr'm Lincoln did confess,
That Negroes must be freed.

The Union boys with heaven's strength,
From that time did succeed;
And fought with valor till at length,
The Negro slaves were freed.

The Jim Crow car for Negroes made,
To crush their pride, indeed,
Has on the harps of thinkers played,
Those people must be freed.

The right of suffrage from the men,
Is taken out of greed;
A better day is coming when
They shall from this be freed.

Black men before the lyncher's rope,
In vain for mercy plead,
But justice cries, "There is a hope,
From such you shall be freed."

From ignorance and poverty,
From superstition's creed,
From those who crush his liberty,
The Negro must be freed.

The hand has written on the wall,
The clouds must all recede,
For God Whose word can never fall,
Says,"Negroes must be freed."