Lift Every Voice and Sing Race Quotes

The reference to "Liberty" in these first three lines clues us into the fact that this is a poem about race. The struggle against racial oppression is a struggle for liberty, after all. These lines also suggest the power of singing and, by extension, voicing our desire for freedom. If the speakers just sing loud enough, and demand their freedom insistently enough, they'll achieve "the harmonies of liberty."

The metaphors of the "stony" road and "the chast'ning rod" allude to the long history of racial oppression in America. African-Americans had to tread a difficult path, first as slaves, and then as second-class citizens.

The "fathers" in line 16 are the slave ancestors of the speakers of this poem. Those slave forefathers "sighed" for freedom, they wanted it for their children. And though they didn't live to see it, their children did achieve freedom from slavery. The image of the "weary feet" is another metaphor that suggests the very "weary" lives that African-Americans have had to lead in America.