FREDERICK DOUGLASS (1818-95) escaped the master’s whip at the age of 20
when he fled North, disguised as a sailor. As a strong voice for civil rights, his
lecturing and reasoning were so impressive that opponents refused to believe he had
been a slave. A beacon of morality whose vision transcended race and gender, he wrote
books and published a newspaper discussing both the evils of slavery and the rights of
women.
“If there is no struggle, there is no progress. Those who favor freedom without agitation
want crops without plowing ... they want rain without thunder and lightning.” - Frederick
Douglass
I once was a slave with a longing for truth,
Though books were forbidden to me.
At risk to my life, I learned how to read.
Thus, would I one day be free.
REFRAIN: I learned to agitate, stir it up, turn it all around.
Agitate, shake it loose, get it off the ground.
Agitate, shout it out! Let them hear the sound. Agitate!
I stand here before you as proof of the fact
The pain of injustice remains.
My brethren in bonds with scars on their backs
Are begging for mercy in chains.
REFRAIN
There is no progress, if there is no fight.
There is no freedom if we do not unite.
Nothing matters more, you see,
Than claiming our equality. Agitate!
REFRAIN
See more of our Social Studies, African-American History, School Concert, Character Education, Biography and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Song Lyrics
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Many thanks to Jonathan Sprout for permission to display these lyric excerpts.
Copyright 2000, Kanukatunes (ASCAP), Song Wizard Music (ASCAP), CurlyJams
(BMI). Used with permission.
