this poem by edna margaret johnson is called "a white girl's prayer," and let me read it first, and then i'll say a couple things about why the book leads off with this. i'm not going to read every line, just to get an idea. she was a white woman. i rise in self-contempt, oh god, my nor kick flesh is but a curse. oh, god of life, remove this curse. the cords of shame are strangling me. remorse is mine. i would atone for white superiority. sheer carnal pride of my own race. tonight, on bended knees i pray, free me from my dispiased flesh and make me yellow, bronze, or black. i start the book with that poem not because it's the best poem written, you know, in the late 19 # 20s, but because this longing for blackness is a really important part of what's happening in white culture at this moment. langston hughes called it the voke for things black, connected to the primitiveness movement, the idea that white culture was depleted and washed out and dried and could only be revitalized by bringing in the life forces of so-called primitive people so some primitives look to africa, others to the

this poem by edna margaret johnson is called "a white girl's prayer," and let me read it first, and then i'll say a couple things about why the book leads off with this. i'm not going to read every line, just to get an idea. she was a white woman. i rise in self-contempt, oh god, my nor kick flesh is but a curse. oh, god of life, remove this curse. the cords of shame are strangling me. remorse is mine. i would atone for white superiority. sheer carnal pride of my own race. tonight, on bended knees i pray, free me from my dispiased flesh and make me yellow, bronze, or black. i start the book with that poem not because it's the best poem written, you know, in the late 19 # 20s, but because this longing for blackness is a really important part of what's happening in white culture at this moment. langston hughes called it the voke for things black, connected to the primitiveness movement, the idea that white culture was depleted and washed out and dried and could only be revitalized by bringing in the life forces of so-called primitive people so some primitives look to africa, others to the

and this palm by edna margaret johnson is called a white rolls per.read it first the men and i will just say a couple of things about why the whole boat leaves out with the. i am not going to read every line, just enough for you get the area. aetna margaret johnson was a one will. i buy and sell contend, no, gun. nine nordic flash is but occurs. oh god of life, remove the stickers. the chords of shame are strangling me. remorse is mine. i would a tone will white superiority, share colonel pride of my own race. tonight on bended knees and pray , free me from my despised flesh and make me yellow a step the booklet that will not because it is the best one written but because this warning for blackman is a really important part of what is happening in white coats and at this moment. the harlem globe. it was certainly connected to the primitivist movement. the nba that what culture was depleted and airy and washed out and tried and could only be revitalized by breeding and alive sources of so-called primitive peoples, so some primitive this slip to africa,