Just a herd of Negroes Driven to the field, Plowing, planting, hoeing, To make the cotton yield. When the cotton's picked And the work is done Boss man takes the money And we get none, Leaves us hungry, ragged As we were before. Year by year goes by And we are nothing more Than a herd of Negroes Driven to the field -- Plowing life away To make the cotton yield.
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Text Authorship:
- by Langston Hughes (1902 - 1967), "Share-Croppers", appears in Shakespeare in Harlem, first published 1942 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Joseph Rubel , "Share-Croppers", published 1939 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2021-01-22
Line count: 16
Word count: 70