“You would hardly feel that any folk but black folk were your friends.”

Reflecting on how generations of racial injustice shaped his sense of belonging and trust · Foreword to Plea of the Negro Soldier and a Hundred Other Poems, 1908

• History
• Identity
• Society

“If you had lived upon scant means, compelled to support yourself, often being physically hungry in an endeavor to satisfy your mental hunger for knowledge”

Contrasting physical deprivation with an intense hunger for learning · Foreword to Plea of the Negro Soldier and a Hundred Other Poems, 1908

• Education
• Knowledge
• Perseverance

“You would surely think this a wretched and ungrateful country.”

Condemning the injustice he experienced despite having served his country as a soldier · Foreword to Plea of the Negro Soldier and a Hundred Other Poems, 1908

• Dignity
• Justice
• Society