Equality
Equality - context Summary
Equality as Enduring Protest
This poem frames equality as a demand and a path to freedom, voiced by a Black speaker who refuses invisibility. It contrasts being seen dimly with a drumbeat that insists on a steady, undeniable identity and voice. The repeated refrain Equality, and I will be free
emphasizes resilience in the face of a painful history and ongoing prejudice. The speaker insists that recognition, not pity, is due, and that collective struggle will not quiet the march toward justice. Written in 1978 as part of And Still I Rise, it ties personal dignity to social change.
You declare you see me dimly through a glass which will not shine, though I stand before you boldly, trim in rank and marking time. You do own to hear me faintly as a whisper out of range, while my drums beat out the message and the rhythms never change. Equality, and I will be free. Equality, and I will be free. You announce my ways are wanton, that I fly from man to man, but if I'm just a shadow to you, could you ever understand? We have lived a painful history, we know the shameful past, but I keep on marching forward, and you keep on coming last. Equality, and I will be free. Equality, and I will be free. Take the blinders from your vision, take the padding from your ears, and confess you've heard me crying, and admit you've seen my tears. Hear the tempo so compelling, hear the blood throb in my veins. Yes, my drums are beating nightly, and the rhythms never change. Equality, and I will be free. Equality, and I will be free.
that is so way past cool
(SKL) I am making an essay for a school assignment
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