Forgotten Legends of Black Poetry, Part One Sterling A. Brown and the Revival of the Root
2 min read
In the pantheon of Black poetry, there are names everyone knows, Langston, Nikki, Maya. But beneath the surface, in the deep and sacred soil, live the legends who whispered their way into our bones.
One of those voices?
Sterling A. Brown.
Born in 1901, Sterling Brown was the blueprint for grounding verse in Black reality. While Langston Hughes jazzed up Harlem’s nightlife and Countee Cullen played with classical form, Brown was somewhere down South, listening to hollers, hymns, work chants, and the quiet dignity of survival.
His poetry echoed life
Brown’s 1932 collection, Southern Road, is a Black American gospel in verse. Rooted in dialect and unapologetically centered in working-class Black voices, his poems reflect the tension between hard labor and unbreakable spirit.
In honor of his legacy, we’re sharing one of his most iconic works in full:
Southern Road
by Sterling A. Brown (1932)
Swing dat hammer—hunh—
Steady, boy, steady!
Ain’t no rush, bebby,
Long ways to go.
Burnt them bricks down
Clarke’sville way;
Load up the box car
Take ‘em on away—
Swing dat hammer—hunh—
Steady, boy, steady!
Ain’t no rush, bebby,
Long ways to go.
Great God, mah mouf’s dry.
Ah do want me a drink o’ water.
Lawd, Gawd, mah mouf’s mighty dry.
Oh—Lawd.
Swing dat hammer—hunh—
Steady, boy, steady!
Ain’t no rush, bebby,
Long ways to go.
There’s weight in those lines. Not just from the labor of the speaker—but from the labor of remembering. Sterling Brown was unafraid to speak in the voice of the working class, the weary, the overlooked. He saw music in struggle, and art in survival.
Today, his legacy lives on through poets like Joshua Bennett, whose own work continues this tradition of dignified, deliberate, deeply felt poetry.
In The Sobbing School, Bennett writes:
“I have gone to bed weeping and woken up Black.”
It’s a direct line from Brown to Bennett, a commitment to the truth, and to making sure our people are not written out of history, but into it with care.
Coming Next Week
Poetic Thursday: Forgotten Legends Part II – Anne Spencer and the Poetics of Private Revolution
Write a poem in the voice of an overlooked ancestor. Title it “They Tried to Forget Me” and tag @IntellectualInkMag with #PoeticThursday. We’ll be resharing your words and possibly publishing our favorites in our upcoming print issue.
Want to be featured in our Poetry Month series?
Email MoneeAbney@intellectualink.com with 3 poems and a short bio.
