Carter G Woodson Told me
Cater G. Woodson Told Me As Black History Month came close I was approached one night by a ghost It was the ghost of Carter G. Woodson The Father of Black History And today I will tell you What Woodson’s ghost said to me He told me, tell my people of Mansa Musa and Marcus Garvey About Malcolm X, Harriet Tubman, and Walter Rodney Let them know about Askia the Great and Thomas Sankara About Sojourner Truth and Yaa Asantewaa Speak about Julius Nyerere and Kwame Nkrumah Anton Lembede and Patrice Lumumba About Nzinga who fought the Portuguese And how Toussaint and Dessalines brought the French to their knees Tell them of Buddhoe and Queen Mary About Sam Sharpe, Bussa, and Cuffy Nat Turner, Zumbi, and Ida B. Wells-Barnett About Sundiata the Lion King and about Imhotep Tell them of Makandal and Daaga African warriors in the West Indies And Makandal Daaga A revolutionary in the 1970s Tell them about Harry Washington George Washington’s slave Who escaped from his master And as a freeman went to his grave Speak about Martin Delany and Robert Campbell Of their journey to the Motherland And how Italy met defeat When they fought the Ethiopians Tell them of marches with Dr. King To face police dogs and brutal blows Tell them of Zulu warriors Marching to face their British foes Speak about Somali warriors Fighting without fear And of the Fuzzy Wuzzy Who broke the British infantry square “Forward ever, Backward never” Tell them about the revolution in Grenada And about how Black Power Shook up Trinbago, Bermuda, and Jamaica Tell them about Funmilayo Kuti a Nigerian nationalist And Eusi Kwayana, a Pan-African activist Speak of our struggle with the Klan And its history of hate Let them know of the Independent Party of Color Which the Cuban government worked to eradicate Teach them that the Dominican Republic fought Spain To regain its independence in 1865 And how Maqoma and Sandhile fought To keep their people alive Tell them of genocides in Congo, Rwanda and Namibia Wars of liberation in Mozambique and Angola Tell them of apartheid And how it was hell Tell them of Nelson Mandela Who spent 27 years in a prison ceil Tell them how we overcame Apartheid and Jim Crow How we fought colonialism, imperialism, and slavery How we withstood European empires And faced great odds with bravery Tell them we faced so much oppression Yet we rise still Then tell them “Up you mighty race and accomplish what you will.”
