<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body dir="auto"><div dir="ltr"><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><div><h1 class="title" id="page-title" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: YaleNew, Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-weight: normal; margin: -2px 0px 0.5em -1px; padding: 0px; font-feature-settings: "kern", "liga", "dlig"; font-size: 2.70588em; line-height: 1.125; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;">Fifty Years</h1></div><div><p style="margin: 0in 0in 12pt; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">(published in 1913 as a commemoration to the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation)</span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 12pt; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">by James Weldon Johnson</span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 12pt; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">O brothers mine, to-day we stand <br style="box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">Where half a century sweeps our ken, </span><br style="box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">Since God, through Lincoln’s ready hand, </span><br style="box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">Struck off our bonds and made us men. </span></span></p></div><div><p style="margin: 0in 0in 12pt; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">Just fifty years — a winter’s day— <br style="box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">As runs the history of a race; </span><br style="box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">Yet, as we look back o’er the way, </span><br style="box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">How distant seems our starting place! </span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 12pt; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">Look farther back! Three centuries! <br style="box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">To where a naked, shivering score, </span><br style="box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">Snatched from their haunts across the seas, </span><br style="box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">Stood, wild-eyed, on Virginia’s shore. </span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 12pt; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">Far, far the way that we have trod, <br style="box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">From heathen kraals and jungle dens, </span><br style="box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">To freedmen, freemen, sons of God, </span><br style="box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">Americans and Citizens. </span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 12pt; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">A part of His unknown design, <br style="box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">We’ve lived within a mighty age; </span><br style="box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">And we have helped to write a line </span><br style="box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">On history’s most wondrous page. </span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 12pt; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">A few black bondmen strewn along <br style="box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">The borders of our eastern coast, </span><br style="box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">Now grown a race, ten million strong, </span><br style="box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">An upward, onward marching host. </span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 12pt; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">Then let us here erect a stone, <br style="box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">To mark the place, to mark the time; </span><br style="box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">A witness to God’s mercies shown, </span><br style="box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">A pledge to hold this day sublime. </span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 12pt; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">And let that stone an altar be, <br style="box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">Whereon thanksgivings we may lay, </span><br style="box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">Where we, in deep humility, </span><br style="box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">For faith and strength renewed may pray. </span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 12pt; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">With open hearts ask from above <br style="box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">New zeal, new courage and new pow’rs, </span><br style="box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">That we may grow more worthy of </span><br style="box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">This country and this land of ours. </span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 12pt; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">For never let the thought arise <br style="box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">That we are here on sufferance bare; </span><br style="box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">Outcasts, asylumed ‘neath these skies, </span><br style="box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">And aliens without part or share. </span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 12pt; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">This land is ours by right of birth, <br style="box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">This land is ours by right of toil; </span><br style="box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">We helped to turn its virgin earth, </span><br style="box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">Our sweat is in its fruitful soil. </span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 12pt; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">Where once the tangled forest stood, — <br style="box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">Where flourished once rank weed and thorn, — </span><br style="box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">Behold the path-traced, peaceful wood, </span><br style="box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">The cotton white, the yellow corn. </span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 12pt; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">To gain these fruits that have been earned, <br style="box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">To hold these fields that have been won, </span><br style="box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">Our arms have strained, our backs have burned, </span><br style="box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">Bent bare beneath a ruthless sun. </span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 12pt; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">That Banner which is now the type <br style="box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">Of victory on field and flood — </span><br style="box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">Remember, its first crimson stripe </span><br style="box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">Was dyed by Attucks’ willing blood. </span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 12pt; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">And never yet has come the cry— <br style="box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">When that fair flag has been assailed— </span><br style="box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">For men to do, for men to die, </span><br style="box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">That have we faltered or have failed. </span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 12pt; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">We’ve helped to bear it, rent and torn, <br style="box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">Through many a hot-breath’d battle breeze; </span><br style="box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">Held in our hands, it has been borne </span><br style="box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">And planted far across the seas. </span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 12pt; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">And never yet—O haughty Land, <br style="box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">Let us, at least, for this be praised — </span><br style="box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">Has one black, treason-guided hand </span><br style="box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">Ever against that flag been raised. </span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 12pt; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">Then should we speak but servile words, <br style="box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">Or shall we hang our heads in shame? </span><br style="box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">Stand back of new-come foreign hordes, </span><br style="box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">And fear our heritage to claim? </span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 12pt; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">No! stand erect and without fear, <br style="box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">And for our foes let this suffice — </span><br style="box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">We’ve bought a rightful sonship here, </span><br style="box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">And we have more than paid the price. </span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 12pt; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">And yet, my brothers, well I know <br style="box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">The tethered feet, the pinioned wings, </span><br style="box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">The spirit bowed beneath the blow, </span><br style="box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">The heart grown faint from wounds and stings; </span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 12pt; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">The staggering force of brutish might, <br style="box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">That strikes and leaves us stunned and dazed; </span><br style="box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">The long, vain waiting through the night </span><br style="box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">To hear some voice for justice raised. </span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 12pt; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">Full well I know the hour when hope <br style="box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">Sinks dead, and ‘round us everywhere </span><br style="box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">Hangs stifling darkness, and we grope </span><br style="box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">With hands uplifted in despair. </span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 12pt; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">Courage! Look out, beyond, and see <br style="box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">The far horizon’s beckoning span! </span><br style="box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">Faith in your God-known destiny! </span><br style="box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">We are a part of some great plan. </span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 12pt; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">Because the tongues of Garrison <br style="box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">And Phillips now are cold in death, </span><br style="box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">Think you their work can be undone? </span><br style="box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">Or quenched the fires lit by their breath? </span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 12pt; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">Think you that John Brown’s spirit stops? <br style="box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">That Lovejoy was but idly slain? </span><br style="box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">Or do you think those precious drops </span><br style="box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">From Lincoln’s heart were shed in vain? </span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 12pt; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">That for which millions prayed and sighed, <br style="box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">That for which tens of thousands fought, </span><br style="box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">For which so many freely died, </span><br style="box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">God cannot let it come to naught.</span></span></p></div>—————————————————<br><br><div dir="ltr"><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Seeya 'round town, Moscow, because . . .</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"Moscow Cares" (the most fun you can have with your pants on)</span></div><div><a href="http://www.moscowcares.com/">http://www.moscowcares.com/</a></div><div><br></div><div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Tom Hansen</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Moscow, Idaho</span></div></div><div><br></div><div>“A stranger is just a friend you haven’t met.”</div><div>- Roy E. Stolworthy</div><div></div></div></div></body></html>