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WHAT SHALL I TELL MY CHILDREN WHO ARE BLACK?
By: Margaret Taylor Goss Burroughs
(1963)

What shall I tell my children who are black,
Of what it means to be captive in this dark skin?

What shall I tell my dear one, the fruit of my womb,
Of how beautiful they are when everywhere they turn,
They are faced with hatred of everything that is black?

Villains are black with black hearts,
A black cow gives no milk.
A Black hen lays no eggs.
Bad news comes bordered in black.
Mourning clothes are black.
Black is evil, evil is black and devil's food cake is black,
All that is bad is black.

What shall I tell my dear ones who are raised in a white world,
A place where white has been made to represent,
All that is good and pure and fine and decent,
Where clouds are white, and dolls, and heaven,
And heaven surely is a white, white place.
With angels robed in white, and cotton candy,
And ice cream and milk and ruffled Sunday dresses,
And dream houses and long sleek Cadillac's,
And angel's food cake is white.  All that is good is white.

What can I say therefore when my black child,
Comes home to me in tears, frustrated and rejected,
Because a playmate, identical to him,
Has called him black, big lipped, flat nosed and nappy headed?

I hope he will feel strengthened and reassured,
When I dry his tears and whisper,
"Yes, that's true. You are black,
And you are just as worthwhile and dear as anyone."
How shall I lift up his head and get him,
To square his shoulders and to look his adversaries straight in the eye,
Confident in the knowledge of his worth,
Aware of his historic heritage,
Serene under his sable skin and proud of his own beauty?

What can I do to give my children the strength,
That they might come through life's adversities,
As whole and humane human beings,
Unwarped in this world of biased laws and inhuman practices,
What must I do to insure,
That each and every one of them might survive?
And survive, they must.  For who knows?
Perhaps some one of my black children here,
Might possess the genius, to discover the cure for cancer,
Or, the brilliance to chart the course for exploration of the Universe.
So, they must survive. For the good of all humanity.
They must and will survive.