Black Woman - Judy Mowatt

Black woman, ooh, black woman

Light me up, troubled long

You trod one of life’s roughest roads

You got the heaviest load

To be someone, to belong

Too near mile and a half furlong

Don’t give up now

Just pray for strength now

For you I dedicate my song

We are forsaked once in the plantation

Lashes to our skin

On auction blocks we were chained and sold

Handled merchandise

Highly abused and warmth we were refused

And thrown in garbage bins

But no need for that now

Free us, stand on back now

And help me to sing my song

When you’re fighting stand up for the right thing

And not that which is wrong

I heard Rachel mourning for her children

When Herod and Pharaoh took their little heads

But like Mary and like Joseph

Mother of Moses too

Overcame its evil devices

I dedicate my song for you

Black woman, ooh, black woman

I know you’ve struggled long

I feel your afflictions

To you I dedicate my song