Black Agenda Report
Black Agenda Report
News, commentary and analysis from the black left.

  • Home
  • Africa
  • African America
  • Education
  • Environment
  • International
  • Media and Culture
  • Political Economy
  • Radio
  • US Politics
  • War and Empire

Declaration of Independence (for Donald "Duck" Bailey)
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
15 Jul 2026
🖨️ Print Article
Drummer

Drummer men, drummer men, fluid loose-
limbed rhythm-masters, were you born free?
Did you drum? Did you drum? Did you drum
in the womb? Did you drum in past lives?

Did you drum? Did you drum? Did you drum
out of narrow spaces? Drum out of bondage?
Did you drum? Did you drum? Did you drum
escaping captivity?

Did you drum? Did you drum? Did you drum
your way off Gore Island? Out Cape Coast Castle?
Did you drum? Did you drum? Did you drum
Glory into the swinging / Fighting 54th?

Drummer men, drummer men, fluid loose-
limbed rhythm-masters, were you born free?
Did the right hand always know perfectly well
what the left foot was doing? Did the right foot 
always know what the left hand was doing for the
combo; the big band; the village — for the world?

Drummer men, drummer men, fluid loose-
limbed rhythm-masters, were you born free?
Did you appear to teach us to tap our toes, 
snap our fingers, and relax to the Max on an axe?

Drummer men, drummer men, fluid loose-
limbed rhythm-masters, were you born free?
Did you swing and Rhythm-A-Ning across rivers cutting
Brilliant Corners … to Criss Cross deserts for freedom?


© 2026. Raymond Nat Turner, The Town Crier. All Rights Reserved. 

Music
Jazz
Donald Bailey
drumming

Do you need and appreciate Black Agenda Report articles? Please click on the DONATE icon, and help us out, if you can.


Related Stories

Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Play, Black Girl, play! (For the Oakland Public Conservatory of Music’s girls)
18 March 2026
“The music is the magic through a raging storm …”  — Abbey Lincoln Play, Black Girl, play —
Raymond Nat Turner
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Dis-honest Broker
01 May 2024
"Dis-honest Broker" is the latest from BAR's Poet-in-Residence, recently performed at UpSurge!
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Raymond Nat Turner at the UpSurge Jazz Celebration
03 April 2024
 
a few flock notes for jaimie breezy branch
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
a few flock notes for jaimie breezy branch
07 September 2022
a few flock notes for jaimie breezy branch “The artist must elect to fight for Freedom or for Slavery” —Paul Robeson
Photo: Kevin W. Thorbourne
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Bird, strings, Big Chief: 100: Harlem (For Charlie Parker/Donald Harrison/Harlem Symphony Orchestra)
08 September 2021
Bird, strings, Big Chief: 100: Harlem (For Charlie Parker/Donald Harrison/Harlem Symphony Orchestra)  

More Stories


  • East Palestine, Ohio and the Oligarchy
    Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    East Palestine, Ohio and the Oligarchy
    01 Mar 2023
    A freight train derailment brought environmental catastrophe to a small Ohio town. While the circumstances are somewhat unique, events followed a predictable pattern in a country run by and for the…
  • ESSAY: Canada in the Caribbean, Caribbean International Service Bureau, 1971
    Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    ESSAY: Canada in the Caribbean, Caribbean International Service Bureau, 1971
    01 Mar 2023
    A 1971 statement shines a bright white light on the long history of Canadian imperialism in the Caribbean.
  • Managers
    Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
    Managers
    01 Mar 2023
                                                         
  • NATO's War in Ukraine Accelerates McCarthyism with Omali Yeshitela
    Danny Haiphong, BAR Contributing Editor , Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    NATO's War in Ukraine Accelerates McCarthyism with Omali Yeshitela
    01 Mar 2023
    Omali Yeshitela joins BAR contributors and editors Danny Haiphong and Margaret Kimberley to discuss the FBI's raid on the African People's Socialist Party in July 2022 and what it…
  •  BAR Book Forum: Lorgia GarcĂ­a Peña’s Book, “Translating Blackness”
    Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    BAR Book Forum: Lorgia García Peña’s Book, “Translating Blackness”
    01 Mar 2023
    This week’s featured author is Lorgia García Peña. Peña is Professor of Latinx Studies at Tufts University. Her book is Translating Blackness: Latinx Colonialities in Global Perspective.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us