Contents -BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD

James Weldon Johnson, ed. (1871–1938). The Book of American Negro Poetry. 1922.

Is It Because I Am Black?

WHY do men smile when I speak,

And call my speech

The whimperings of a babe

That cries but knows not what it wants?

Is it because I am black?

Why do men sneer when I arise

And stand in their councils,

And look them eye to eye,

And speak their tongue?

Is it because I am black?