I knew about...
The Emancipation proclamation
But you still kept
Holding me back

Knew about Crispus Attucks
Mr. Lincoln being black
Still you kept 
Holding me back
Huckle Berry Finn had his fun
Uncle Tom stayed on the run
Marcus Garvey's poetry sprung
But you still
Kept holding me back 

Du Sable founder of Chicago
George Washington
Not the President !
Son of a slave
Founded Centralia Washington
George Washington Carver
With over 300 ways
To use a peanut 

James Baldwin
Writer with a mind
Way ahead of his time
Wittiness those days 
Considered a crime

Don't you dare cross over 
That color line !

Martin Luther King
Keep feeling his dream 
Find my self
Letting off steam
Not being mean
But still you keep
Holding me back

Pages torn out 
Black history books
Came up empty
Literature buried
Under the dust
Considered hush hush
In God we trust
This time around
Black voices make sounds and

It won't be holding us back!