“Is It Because I am Black?” (Joseph Seamon Cotter Jr.)

“Why do men smile when I speak,

And call my speech

The whimperings of a babe

That cries but knows not what it wants?

Is it because I am black?

Why do men sneer when I arise

And stand in their councils,

And look them eye to eye,

And speak their tongue?

Is it because I am black?”