Introduction: These truly are the brave -- Part 1. Freedom, democracy, and equality? From colonies to a nation divided -- From "Colored men have their rights that white men are bound to respect" (1863) / Alexander T. Augusta -- From a poem entitled, The Day and the War (1864) / James Madison Bell -- My hero (To Robert Gould Shaw) (1915) / Benjamin Griffith Brawley -- From Clotelle; or the colored heroine (1867) / William Wells Brown -- Crispus attucks (1899) / Olivia Ward Bush-Banks -- "I look forward to a brighter day" (1863) / Samuel Cabble -- "What country have I?" (1847) ; The War with Mexico (1848) ; Peace! Peace! Peace! (1848) ; Fellow citizens: On slavery and the Fourth of July (1852) ; From How to End the War (1861) / Frederick Douglass -- "If I die tonight I will not die a coward" (1863) / Lewis Henry Douglass -- Black Samson of Brandywine (1903) ; The Colored Soldiers (1895) ; Robert Gould Shaw (1900) ; Lincoln (1903) / Paul Laurence Dunbar -- Life at sea during the French and Indian War (Seven Years? War) (1789) / Olaudah Equiano [Gustavus Vassa] -- From Letters from a man of colour on a late bill before the Senate of Pennsylvania (1813) / James Forten -- "True manhood has no limitations of color" (1864) / Charlotte Forten Grimké -- My country (1834) / Sarah Louisa Forten Purvis -- Frederick Douglass speaks before the Anti-Mexican War Abolitionists (2006) ; South of Houston (2006) / Vievee Francis -- Black abolitionists declare rights to revolutionary freedom (1777) / Freedom petition to the Massachusetts Council and House of Representatives -- From an address to the slaves of the United States of America (1843) / Henry Highland Garnet -- It's morning (1940) / Shirley Graham Du Bois -- An appeal to my countrywomen (1871) / Frances Ellen Watkins Harper -- Jefferson in a tight place (1865) / George Moses Horton -- De Ol' Sojer (1916) / Fenton Johnson -- From "Freedom and fear fighting for the Loyalists" (1798) / Boston King -- Memorial wreath (1962) / Dudley Randall -- Robert G. Shaw (1910) / Henrietta Cordelia Ray -- The reason why (1887) / George Clinton Rowe -- Ethiopia's dead (1865) / Sarah E. Shuften -- Song of the "Aliened American" (1852) / Joshua McCarter Simpson -- Commandeering freedom: Robert Smalls pilots the Confederate ship Planter (1864) / Robert Smalls -- "How dare I be offered half the pay of any man, be he white or red?" (1864) / George E. Stephens -- A nurse for the 33rd USCT (1902) / Susie Baker King Taylor -- Bars fight (1855) / Lucy Terry Prince -- Elegy for the Native Guards (2006) / Natasha Trethewey -- The Fifty-Fourth at Wagner (1883) / James Monroe Trotter -- The valiant soldiers (1878) / Sojourner Truth-- From Walker's appeal, in four articles: Together with a preamble to the coloured citizens of the world, but in particular, and very expressly, to those of the United States of America (1829) / David Walker -- Letter accompanying a poem to General George Washington (1776) ; His Excellency Gen. Washington (1776) ; On the death of General Wooster (1980) ; Liberty and peace, a poem (1784) / Phillis Wheatley -- America (1853) / James Monroe Whitfield-- From Hymn to the nation (1877) ; From The end of the whole matter (1877) ; From Twasinta's Seminoles; or, Rape of Florida (1884) / Albery Allson Whitman -- 1812 (1972) / John A. Williams -- Part 2. The United States enters the global stage: Empire, worldwide war, and democracy -- The negro should not enter the army (1899) / A.M.E. Church: Voice of Missions -- "We don't want these islands" (1900) / A black soldier in the Philippine Islands -- Lines (1899) / Samuel Alfred Beadle -- Aftermath: a one-act play of negro life (1919) / Mary Burrill -- A hero of San Juan (1899) / Olivia Ward Bush-Banks -- Acquit yourselves like men: An address to colored soldiers at Grays Armory, Cleveland, Ohio (1917) / Charles Waddell Chesnutt -- Moloch (1921) / Joseph Seamon Cotter Jr. -- From If we must die (1919) / W.A. Domingo -- My country 'tis of thee (1907) ; Close ranks (1918) ; A philosophy in time of war (1918) ; Our special grievances (1918) ; Returning soldiers (1919) / W.E.B. Du Bois -- The conquerors: the black troops in Cuba (1898) / Paul Laurence Dunbar -- Mine eyes have seen (1918) ; I sit and sew (1920) / Alice Ruth Moore Dunbar-Nelson -- A battle in the Philippines (1915) / F. Grant Gilmore -- "The colored soldier . . . properly belongs among the bravest and most trustworthy in the land" (1899) / Presley Holliday -- The negro soldiers (1917) / Roscoe Conkling Jamison -- The new day (1919) / Fenton Johnson -- To America (1917) / James Weldon Johnson -- 'Cruiter (1927) / John F. Matheus -- If we must die (1919) / Claude McKay -- Address to the Country (1906) / Niagara Movement -- From The failure of Negro leadership (1918) / Chandler Owen -- The Wife-Woman (1922) / Anne Bethel Spencer -- A legend of Versailles (1944) / Melvin Beaunorus Tolson Sr. -- The negro soldiers of America: What we are fighting for (1918) / Lucian Bottow Watkins -- Part 3. The Double-V Campaign challenges Jim Crow: World War II -- "Local prejudice, or an official order from Washington" (1982) / Aeron D. Bells -- Negro Hero (1945) ; The white troops had their orders but the Negroes looked like men (1945) / Gwendolyn Brooks -- Guilty (1948) / Ruby Berkley Goodwin -- Tar (1945) / Shirley Graham Du Bois -- Beaumont to Detroit: 1943 (1943) / Langston Hughes -- Black recruit (1948) / Georgia Douglas Johnson -- War memoir: jazz, Don't listen to it at your own risk (1981) / Bob Kaufman -- Negro mother to her soldier son (1943) / Cora Ball Moten -- In darkness and confusion (1947) / Ann Lane Petry -- "We'd rather die on our knees as a man, than to live in this world as a slave" (1943) / Soldiers at Ft. Logan, Colorado -- "An honor to be in the Army and be black, too. We were the beginning." (2004) / Gladys O. Thomas-Anderson -- Valaida (1989) / John Edgar Wideman -- Heart against the wind (1944) / Gwendolyn Williams -- Part 4. Battles at home and abroad from Montgomery to Afghanistan -- From The black woman in the Civil Rights Struggle (1969)/ Ella Baker -- My dungeon shook: letter to my nephew on the one hundredth anniversary of the emancipation (1962) / James Baldwin -- The sea birds are still alive (1977) / Toni Cade Bambara -- From Somebody blew up America (2001) / Amiri Baraka -- "We were pioneers" (2004) / Julius W. Becton Jr. -- I too, hear America singing (1960) / Julian Bond -- From September song: a poem in 7 days (2002) / Lucille Clifton -- Liars don't qualify (1961) / Junius Edwards -- American history (1970) / Michael S. Harper -- "I was sworn into the Army in manacles" (1984) / Robert E. Holcomb -- "Uncle Sam didn't do much for me. I am proud of my service." (2004) / Stephen Hopkins -- God Bless America (1952) / John Oliver Killens -- Strange liberators: A speech at Riverside Church, 4 April 1967 (1967) / Martin Luther King Jr. -- Re-creating the scene (1988) ; The one-legged stool (1988) / Yusef Komunyakaa -- From Mymerica (2006) / Allia Abdullah Matta -- "Pray 4 a quick ending to this" (2004) / Eric Mitchell -- "Everything about war was horrible" (2004) / Janet Pennick -- "I asked to go to Vietnam" (2004) / Marie Rodgers -- From Reflections after the June 12th March for Disarmament (1984) / Sonia Sanchez -- 'Nam (1972) / John A. Williams.