"Every race and every nation should be judged by the best it has been able to produce, not by the worst."

"The glory of the day was in her face, The beauty of the night was in her eyes."

"It is from the blues that all that may be called American music derives its most distinctive characteristic."

"Lift every voice and sing Till earth and heaven ring, Ring with the harmonies of Liberty. Let our rejoicing rise high…"

"How would you have us, as we are? Or sinking 'neath the load we bear? Our eyes fixed forward on a star? Or gazing emp…"

"O black and unknown bards of long ago, How came your lips to touch the sacred fire? How, in your darkness, did you co…"

"Whose starward eye Saw chariot “swing low”? And who was he That breathed that comforting, melodic sigh, “Nobody knows…"

"You sang far better than you knew; the songs That for your listeners’ hungry hearts sufficed Still live,—but more tha…"

"Father, Father Abraham, To-day look on us from above; On us, the offspring of thy faith, The children of thy Christ-l…"

"The colored people of this country know and understand the white people better than the white people know and underst…"