For decades blacks in America have been suppressed much like a flame being smothered in order to extinguish it, but unlike fire, the spirits and souls of blacks have never stopped burning. Blacks have been physically abused by society through lynchings, burnings, and other acts of violence and have been emotionally abused through slurs, organized protest such as ones held by the Ku Klux Klan, and other forms of racism. Although our forefathers stated when …showed first 75 words of 2255 total…

…showed last 75 words of 2255 total…of character within his children. The narrator had finally saw that rain really is a beautiful thing. Works Cited Diesman, Jill. "James Weldon Johnson." North Kentucky University 19 Nov. 2003 http://www.nku.edu/~diesmanj/johnson.html Johnson, James Weldon. The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man. Saint Cloud: Penguin USA, 1990. Nelson, Cary. "James Weldon Johnson's Life and Career." Modern American Poetry Home 9 Nov. 2003 <http://www.english.uiuc.edu/maps/poets/g_l/johnson/life.htm>