Immorality Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AABB CCDD EEFF GGH IIJJ KKLL MMNN OOII PPQQ RRSS TTFF UUVV WWOO| Have you heard my friend the slander that the Negro has to face | A |
| Immorality the grossest has been charged up to his race | A |
| Listen listen to my story as I now proceed to tell | B |
| Of conditions in the Southland where the mass of Negroes dwell | B |
| - | |
| Ev'ry city town or county ev'ry state on Southern soil | C |
| Has mulattoes in its borders found among the sons of toil | C |
| Can you tell from whence they landed or to whither shall they go | D |
| Is the Negro race responsible alone I'd like to know | D |
| - | |
| When a man among the Negroes is the least suspected there | E |
| Of an intimate relation with a daughter that is fair | E |
| Then an angry mob arises and he answers for the same | F |
| In a death the worst in cruelty the company can name | F |
| - | |
| Though the noonday sun is shining at the time the lynching's done | G |
| Still the officers of justice can't detect a single one | G |
| Who partook in Negro killing for the deed no one is blamed | H |
| And inside the nation's senate comes a voice 'We're not ashamed ' | - |
| - | |
| Is the same true when a white man leads a Negro girl astray | I |
| When he takes away her virtue is the same true tell me pray | I |
| Do the press and pulpit clamor or condemn the mighty wrong | J |
| Is there sentiment against it is the burden of my song | J |
| - | |
| When the case is thus presented they are silent as the grave | K |
| And the law at once is powerless a Negro's name to save | K |
| So you see the same continues and the truth is like a flood | L |
| That in veins of Southern Negroes flow the best of Southern blood | L |
| - | |
| Can you tell of these mulattoes did they fall here from the sky | M |
| How is this that they're among us can you tell the reason why | M |
| Who's to blame for their existence is the Negro race alone | N |
| If there are such freaks in nature it is time to make them known | N |
| - | |
| 'Tis a custom born of slavery when master's law and might | O |
| Was enforced upon the bondsman without question of the right | O |
| And the parson preached on Sunday how the servant should obey | I |
| All the mandates of the master let them be whate'er they may | I |
| - | |
| O how sad the tales of bondage when persuasive measures failed | P |
| How they tortured Negro women till their hellish plans prevailed | P |
| Women faithful to their virtue were as martyrs sent to rest | Q |
| Others yielded to the tempter weary helpless and distressed | Q |
| - | |
| So the spirit lives at present for the master hand to rule | R |
| Cook or washer nurse or housemaid passes through this training school | R |
| Lo the greatest of temptations men and devils there invent | S |
| And present them to the servants on their ruin so intent | S |
| - | |
| There's no friend to whom the dusky maiden can appeal for aid | T |
| To the mistress of the home to speak of such she is afraid | T |
| In the law there's no protection that a Negro girl can claim | F |
| None to rescue none to pity so she enters into shame | F |
| - | |
| Now reflect for just a moment in the light of what you see | U |
| Which is worse to yield the tempter or the evil one to be | U |
| Can you still believe that Negroes are immoral more than whites | V |
| O how different the picture if the Negro had his rights | V |
| - | |
| There's a God who rules in justice one who feels his children's pain | W |
| So we know that sin and darkness cannot always hope to reign | W |
| All the ills to Negro women will the Father bring to light | O |
| For the Judge the only Judge of all creation will do right | O |
Lizelia Augusta Jenkins Moorer
(1)
Poem topics: , Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme
Submit Spanish Translation
Submit German Translation
Submit French Translation
Write your comment about Immorality poem by Lizelia Augusta Jenkins Moorer
Best Poems of Lizelia Augusta Jenkins Moorer