November 4, 2024

Our Story by William Taylor

Nov 4, 2024

The Chronicle of Heroes, Black Contributions to America, will be published in January 2025. Our resident poet, William Taylor, was so moved by the hundreds of vignettes and photos in the book that he wrote this copyrighted poem, Our Story, found at the end of the book, to illustrate that now our story begins for all of us. Enjoy reading along with the poem as you hear him read his work here.

Our Story by William Taylor

We know history to be…

HIS-STORY

But this is OUR STORY

Not your average mulatto melancholy mixers

Yet intricately intertwined pieces of the past

A time when the color black was just something associated with night

As one desperately searched for light

This great nation was built on the foundation of separation known as segregation.

So this piece of work serves as our annotation

To OUR STORY

Like it or not, it’s forever a part of history

Timeline tales in great detail

Brick by brick, hand-picked

Giving birth to our ancestors, “what ifs?”

So this is what happens when you dare to dream…

I say, “Hold on to your dreams tight because, in the darkest of days, you too can find light”

If there ever was a 1,000-page timeline written about slavery

I encourage you to read “The Chronicle of Heroes,” and you will clearly see

At the very bottom of page 999 is where that timeline would begin for me

Written in stages, within these pages

You’ll find that some of our founding fathers had an insight

An insight from what I like to call…

A little black light

It is our greatest honor

To finally shed some light

So, we give them the spotlight

Here it is

In black & white

May their accomplishments eternally shine ever so bright…

Shine…