1945
The Founding Fathers
Langston Hughes Listen
Text
Who, in Fourteen-Ninety-Two,
Set sail for a land anew?
The Queen her jewels all had sold
To furnish this poor sailor’s gold.
He took three ships that were his pride
And set sail on the ocean wide
What was his name, we’d like to know?
CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS
Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus
Sailed the seas in “Ninety-Two,
CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS
What general on a Christmas Eve
Our nation’s freedom to achieve,
Crossed o’er the icy Delaware
To catch our foemen unaware?
Then from the battlefield he went
To be our nation’s President.
Who heads the scroll of national fame?
WASHINGTON, OUR FATHER.
Washington, Our Father.
Washington, Our Father.
First in war and first in peace,
WASHINGTON, OUR FATHER.
Sixteen-Twenty is the date.
The place now is a famous state,
Founded them by pioneer stock
On the shores of Plymouth Rock.
When these folks knelt down to pray
There was born Thanksgiving Day.
Tell me what was the group’s name?
THEY WERE PILGRIM FATHERS.
Call them Pilgrim Fathers.
Call them Pilgrim Fathers.
Plymouth Rock their landing place.
CALL THEM PILGRIM FATHERS.
A woman asked her neighbor’s aid
To sew the first flag that was made.
They took the stars of heaven’s night.
They made the stripes of red and white.
Who gave it all her love and care?
Wo raised it in the breeze so fair?
Who served it with her finest floss?
HER NAME WAS BETSY ROSS
Betsy Ross, fair lady.
Betsy Ross, fair lady.
Mother of her country’s flag.
Betsy Ross, fair lady.
Seventeen and Seventy-Five
‘Ere Independence came alive,
What was the midnight ride so brave
That helped this nation’s birth to save?
When in the dark of Boston’s night
From Old North Church there flashed a light,
What was it warmed of danger near?
THE RIDE OF PAUL REVERE.
Paul Revere, courageous!
Paul Revere, courageous!
Took his steed, at midnight rode!
Paul Revere, courageous!
Who are the heirs of history?
Who wears the mantle of the free?
Who has the future in his hand
To guard the blessings of our land?
And who must safeguard freedom’s way,
Protect our mighty U.S.A.?
Who carries on democracy?
IT’S UP TO YOU AND ME.
It’s up to you and me.
It’s up to you and me.
Guardians of our liberty,
It’s up to you and me.
Sheet Music
An Anthology of African and African Diaspora Songs – 60 Songs
Christmas Lullaby (H. Leslie Adams)
Sence You Went Away (H. Leslie Adams)
The Heart of a Woman (H. Leslie Adams)
The Alarm Clock (David N. Baker)
The Negro Speaks of Rivers (Margaret Bonds)
Caring (Charles Brown)
Desire (Charles Brown)
Your Eyes So Deep (H. T. Burleigh)
Your Lips Are Wine (H. T. Burleigh)
Autumn (Valerie Capers)
Elëanore (Samuel Coleridge-Taylor)
The Willow Song (Samuel Coleridge-Taylor)
Minakesh (Arthur Cunningham)
Stars (Harriette Davison Watkins)
Out in the Fields (William Dawson)
The Refused (Mark Fax)
With Rue My Heart Is Laden (Bruce Forsythe)
Suspiro d’alma (Antônio Carlos Gomes)
If I Can Stop One Heart from Breaking (Adolphus Hailstork)
Longing (Adolphus Hailstork)
Loveliest of Trees (Adolphus Hailstork)
Dormi, Jesu (Jacqueline Hairston)
Gardé Piti Mulet Là (Maud Cuney Hare)
I’ll Not Forget (Jeraldine Herbison)
Little Elegy (Jonathan Holland)
In Time of Silver Rain (Sylvia Hollifield)
The Founding Fathers (Langston Hughes)
This is My Land (Langston Hughes)
L’il Gal (J. Rosamond Johnson)
Soliloquy (Thomas Kerr)
Amazing Grace (Lena McLin)
The Year’s at the Spring (Lena McLin)
I Am in Doubt (Undine Smith Moore)
I Want to Die While You Love Me (Undine Smith Moore)
For a Poet (Andre Myers)
Chere, Mo Lemmé Toi (Camille Nickerson)
Gué, Gué, Solingaie (Camille Nickerson)
Mshila (Fred Onovwerosuoke)
Entreaty (I Am the Rose of Sharon) (Eurydice Osterman)
Could I but Ride Indefinite (Robert Owens)
Die Nacht (Robert Owens)
From the Dark Tower (Robert Owens)
The Lynching (Robert Owens)
The Secret (Robert Owens)
Madrigal (Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson)
O Children of Men (Zenobia Powell Perry)
I Want to Die While You Love Me (Rosephanye Powell)
Spring (Florence Price)
The Sum (Florence Price)
Martin Luther King, Jr. (Dave Ragland)
Mangez, Boulez (Eat, Drink, Be Merry) (Nadine Shanti)
Prayer (Carlos Simon)
Troubled Woman (Hale Smith)
Why Fades a Dream? (Irene Britton Smith)
Dream Variations (Brandon Spencer)
Spring Song (Hilbert Stewart)
One Day (Howard Swanson)
I Went to Heaven (George Walker)
Norris Swamp (Aurelia Young)