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FREEDOMWAYS                           SECOND QUARTER 1972
                                      I, TOO, SING AMERICA

I AM THE DARKER BROTHER: AN ANTHOLOGY OF MODERN POEMS BY BLACK AMERICANS. Edited by Arnold Adoff. Collier Books, New York. 129 pages. $1.25 paperback. Historical notes and biographies included.

THIS COMPREHENSIVE COLLECTION-dedicated to the memory of Langston Hughes- is now available in paperback. Problems of slavery, mixed lineage, lynchings, segregation, and equal job opportunity appear as part of the American heritage. The twenty-nine established poets offer variant views on topics regarding the black man's unique role in history.
  The book is divided into six main parts. Each section comments on different aspects of the black experience. The work of Langston Hughes is represented throughout and one of his finest themes is "Cross"-a wrenching account from the first grouping Like I Am. The beginning poems are mainly portraits of introspection and empathy:

My old man's a white old man
And my old mother's black
If ever I cursed my white old man
I take my curses back.

If ever I cursed by black old mother
And wished she were in hell,
I'm sorry for that evil wish
And now I wish her well.

  The second section Genealogy transports us back in time to the first arrival of blacks in the New World. Robert Hayden supplies us with a dramatic chronology of these events in "Middle Passage." Drawing information from actual log book entries, Hayden forms graphic and convincing scenes. This splendid epic poem is destined to become an American classic.
  The third section If We Must Die takes its title from the stirring lines of Claude McKay. Parts of this rebellious theme were discovered on a crumpled piece of paper during the Attica riots. It expresses militant feelings that result from long-smoldering anxieties and repressions.

If we must die-let it not be like hogs
Hunted and penned in an inglorious spot,
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BOOK REVIEW                          GOW
While round us bark the mad and hungry dogs,
Making their mock at our accursed lot.
If we must die-oh, let us nobly die,
So that our precious blood may not be shed
In vain; then even the monsters we defy
Shall be constrained to honor us though dead!

  The third section Shall Be Remembered offers tributes to honored members of the race living and dead. Frederick Douglas and Harriet Tubman are credited for their services in eliminating slavery, as are the 200,000 Negroes who served in the Union Army during the Civil War. There are eulogies to Malcolm X and Mohandas Gandhi. Black poets, writers, and musicians are credited for their particular contributions to the field of art.
  One of the most lyrically moving poems in the entire collection is Quandra Prettyman's "When Mahalia Sings." The three ten-line stanzas in couplet form describe the young author's decision while peeking in windows at holiness revivals. The loose jazz band, the wild dancing, shouting and weeping were strange contrast to the stiffly still hands and formal quiet of the neighboring church. With maturity, however, came understanding and reappraisal. Inspired by the vibrant voice of Mahalia Jackson, the author concludes:

I, since then, have heard the gospel singing
of one who says I worship with clapping

hands and my whole body, God, whom we must
thank for all this richness raised from dust.

Since then, I've learned of my familiar God-
He finds no worship alien or odd.

The next to the last section covers the modern scene. "Status Symbol" by Mari Evans alerts us to the slow-going process that is beginning to find some success in the field of civil rights. The "status symbol" in this case turns out to be "the/key/to the/White ... Locked.../John." Quota systems are paying off.
  The final section The Hope of Your Unborn ends with a forward-looking prophecy by Margaret Walker. The prose-poem paragraphs stress the hope that coming generations will use their strength and courage to transform society. There is a feeling that messiahs of the

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