Hilary Mac Austin and Kathleen Thompson |
|
 On Memorial Day 1943, two women decorated a soldier's grave in a Black section of Arlington National Cemetery. Photo by Esther Bubley. Office of War Information, Library of Congress. |
One of the little poems of
Paul Lawrence Dunbar that I learned way back, says,
"A crust of bread and a corner to sleep in."
Well, I didn't want a crust of bread. I wanted that soft,
yeasty inside. And I didn't want a corner to sleep in. I
wanted a house to sleep in. And then the poem says,
"A minute to laugh--and an hour to weep in."
Well, I didn't want that. I wanted an hour to laugh in
and the minute to weep in. Next it say, "A pint of
joy to a peck of trouble." You know I didn't want
that. And I didn't want this other part that says,
"Never a laugh--but the mourns come double, and
that's life." We propose to do something better. Cassie Swarm, Black Women in the Middle West Project |
