Margaret Taylor-Burroughs was an American writer, poet, visual artist and educator. She co-founded the Ebony Museum of Chicago which later became the DuSable Museum of African American History. She was an active member of the African-American community, and her writings reflect that. Taylor-Burroughs was a prolific writer, and she directed especially children, toward the exploration of the black experience. She focused on the importance of appreciating cultural identity and to draw meaning from black art. She is also credited with the founding of Chicago's Lake Meadows Art Fair in the early 1950s.
What Shall I Tell My Children Who Are Black (Reflections of an African-American Mother)
By Margaret Taylor-Burroughs - 1963
What shall I tell my children who are black
Of what it means to be a captive in this dark skin
What shall I tell my dear one, fruit of my womb,
Of how beautiful they are when everywhere they turn
They are faced with abhorrence of everything that is black.
Villains are black with black hearts.
A black cow gives no milk. A black hen lays no eggs.
Bad news comes bordered in black, black is evil
And evil is black and devils' food is black…
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