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"Poetry for the People": Reading Garveyism through Poetry

captive

While Dunlap's poem is hopeful, the image of the captive is nonetheless a poignant one; note that the poem is accompanied on the page with a piece of news headlined "LYNCHING!" This emphasizes that the situation of black people is still quite dire, making Dunlap's repudiation of the KKK in her poem even more courageous and significant.

This page is referenced by:

The Birth of a Nation, by Ethel Trew Dunlap
There’s a birth in the earth--
   Not that on the screen;
   A race is travailing--
   It’s emblem is seen.
   The shower--the flower:
   The blossom has burst,
   Sprung, as did Jesus,
   From soil they called cursed.
   It blooms--it perfumes--
   Pressed to Africa’s breast--
   That siren who’s calling
   The captive to rest.

From the July 30, 1921 issue.