Ruby Brown Aug. 1926 Crisis, She was young and beautiful And golden like the sunshine That warmed her body. And because she was colored 5 Mayville had no place to offer her, Nor fuel for the clean flame of joy That tried to burn within her soul. One day, Sitting on old back porch Mrs. Latham’s 10 Polishing the silver, She asked herself two questions And they ran something like this: What can a colored girl do On the money from a white woman’s kitchen? 15 And there any joy in this town? ain’t Now the streets down by the river Know more about this pretty Ruby Brown, And the sinister shuttered houses of the bottoms Hold a yellow girl 20 Seeking an answer to her questions. The good church folk do not mention Her name any more. But the white man Habitués of the high shuttered houses, 25 Pay more money to her now That they ever did before, When she worked in their kitchens.
Ruby Brown Crisis, Aug. 1926 5 10 15 20 25 She was young and beautiful And golden like the sunshine That warmed her body. And because she was colored Mayville had no place to offer her, Nor fuel for the clean flame of joy That tried to burn within her soul. One day, Sitting on old Mrs. Latham’s back porch Polishing the silver, She asked herself two questions And they ran something like this: What can a colored girl do On the money from a white woman’s kitchen? And ain’t there any joy in this town? Now the streets down by the river Know more about this pretty Ruby Brown, And the sinister shuttered houses of the bottoms Hold a yellow girl Seeking an answer to her questions. The good church folk do not mention Her name any more. But the white man Habitués of the high shuttered houses, Pay more money to her now That they ever did before, When she worked in their kitchens.
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