The Beatitudes form the backdrop for Weatherford's free-verse poem that traces the African American journey from slavery to civil rights.

"Even though slavery had ended in the 1860s, African Americans were still suffering under the weight of segregation a hundred years later. They couldn't go to the same schools, eat at the same restaurants, or even use the same bathrooms as white people. But by the 1950s, black people refused to remain second-class citizens and were willing to risk their lives to make a change"--

From the first attempts to end slavery in the 1800s to the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s, women were in the forefront of the struggle to achieve equality for Black Americans. Rosa Parks in Montgomery and Viola Desmond in Canada both sparked effective mass movements that led to change, while other women led the way in educating Black voters and organizing protests such as lunch-counter sit-ins and the Freedom Rides. As soon as they could,...