The Negro Mother Poem by Langston Hughes

The Negro Mother

Rating: 4.0


Children, I come back today
To tell you a story of the long dark way
That I had to climb, that I had to know
In order that the race might live and grow.
Look at my face - dark as the night -
Yet shining like the sun with love's true light.
I am the dark girl who crossed the red sea
Carrying in my body the seed of the free.
I am the woman who worked in the field
Bringing the cotton and the corn to yield.
I am the one who labored as a slave,
Beaten and mistreated for the work that I gave -
Children sold away from me, I'm husband sold, too.
No safety, no love, no respect was I due.

Three hundred years in the deepest South:
But God put a song and a prayer in my mouth.
God put a dream like steel in my soul.
Now, through my children, I'm reaching the goal.

Now, through my children, young and free,
I realized the blessing deed to me.
I couldn't read then. I couldn't write.
I had nothing, back there in the night.
Sometimes, the valley was filled with tears,
But I kept trudging on through the lonely years.
Sometimes, the road was hot with the sun,
But I had to keep on till my work was done:
I had to keep on! No stopping for me -
I was the seed of the coming Free.
I nourished the dream that nothing could smother
Deep in my breast - the Negro mother.
I had only hope then, but now through you,
Dark ones of today, my dreams must come true:
All you dark children in the world out there,
Remember my sweat, my pain, my despair.
Remember my years, heavy with sorrow -
And make of those years a torch for tomorrow.
Make of my pass a road to the light
Out of the darkness, the ignorance, the night.
Lift high my banner out of the dust.
Stand like free men supporting my trust.
Believe in the right, let none push you back.
Remember the whip and the slaver's track.
Remember how the strong in struggle and strife
Still bar you the way, and deny you life -
But march ever forward, breaking down bars.
Look ever upward at the sun and the stars.
Oh, my dark children, may my dreams and my prayers
Impel you forever up the great stairs -
For I will be with you till no white brother
Dares keep down the children of the Negro Mother.

Friday, January 3, 2003
Topic(s) of this poem: kids,mother
COMMENTS OF THE POEM
Skanky Bogan 26 November 2007

harden up and get a real job

35 135 Reply
Devin Walter 09 December 2021

kill yourself

14 20
Chinedu Dike 02 November 2022

An insightful piece on freedom nicely put together with conviction

6 0 Reply
Lenora Williams 10 September 2022

I'm love poem it's taken you back from where you can

2 0 Reply
Evelyn Morianos 02 January 2022

Absolutely love this poem. So encouraging and embracing, persistence, strength, faith and hope for the future.

7 2 Reply
Blair 11 October 2021

There are some mistakes in the poem it should be: '...who crossed the wide sea...' '...the blessing denied to me...' '... Make of my past a road...' '...bar you the way, still deny you life...'

3 1 Reply

No BLAIR the poem posted is correct. That's the original version, not the politically correct edited version you want to interject… Red Sea ✅

1 0
Butterfly 12 February 2022

Blair! , there are no formats to follow with poem writing!

5 0
Asitha Anil 12 November 2020

Thanks for this poem I have choose it as my poem for recitation

2 1 Reply
Mayyy 17 February 2021

Me too, my teacher recommended it to me and it's really good

2 1
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