It Is The Wind And The Rain,

How Shall Integrity Face Oppression?

Actively We Have Woven Ourselves With The Very Warp And Woof Of This Nation, - We Have Fought Their Battles, Shared Their Sorrow, Mingled Our Blood With Theirs, And Generation After Generation Have Pleaded With A Headstrong, Careless People To Despise Not Justice, Mercy And Truth, Lest The Nation Be Smitten With A Curse. Our Song, Our Toil, Our Cheer And Warning Have Been Given To This Nation In Blood-brotherhood. Are Not These Gifts Worth The Giving? Is Not This Worth The Striving? Would America Have Been America Without Her Negro People?

The Worker Must Work For The Glory Of His Handiwork, Not Simply For Pay; The Thinker Must Think For Truth, Not For Fame.

The Nation Has Not Yet Found Peace From Its Sins; The Freedman Has Not Yet Found In Freedom His Promised Land. Whatever Of Good May Have Come In These Years Of Change, The Shadow Of A Deep Disappointment Rests Upon The Negro People,—a Disappointment All The More Bitter Because The Unattained Ideal Was Unbounded Save By The Simple Ignorance Of A Lowly People.

One Thing Alone I Charge You. As You Live, Believe In Life! Always Human Beings Will Live And Progress To Greater, Broader And Fuller Life. The Only Possible Death Is To Lose Belief In This Truth Simply Because The Great End Comes Slowly, Because Time Is Long.