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


  • Bidens and Trumps, Foxes and Wolves
    Glen Ford, BAR Executive Editor
    Bidens and Trumps, Foxes and Wolves
    08 Oct 2020
    The fox and wolf parties – both corporate canines – debate how best to acclimate the masses to their deepening state of precarity.
  • Freedom Rider: Liberal Sympathy for Trump
    Margaret Kimberley, BAR senior columnist
    Freedom Rider: Liberal Sympathy for Trump
    07 Oct 2020
    If Ava Duvernay really believes Trump is a white supremacist, why wish him well?  
  • Debate Lesson: 2020 Election is a Great Corporate Thug-a-thon
    Danny Haiphong, BAR Contributing Editor
    Debate Lesson: 2020 Election is a Great Corporate Thug-a-thon
    07 Oct 2020
    Trump and Biden avoided policy because neither had anything to offer the masses of people.
  • Fight the Power: Resistance Radio at the Virtual GRC Summit
    Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
    Fight the Power: Resistance Radio at the Virtual GRC Summit
    07 Oct 2020
    The Grassroots Radio Virtual Summit is for anyone looking for ways to resist heightening repression and anyone who feels that grassroots radio is vital to their community, writes Ann Garrison.
  • October Surprise? (or President Pence pardon?)
    Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
    October Surprise? (or President Pence pardon?)
    07 Oct 2020
    They say he could use your thoughts  and prayers; like he used your taxes  Praying to big white Buddha bottles of bleach…They say he never, ever,
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us