By Margaret Walker
Mike Coggins
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Born on July 7, 1915 in Birmingham, Alabama
Received her Bachelor’s from Northwestern in 1935
Received her Master’s in creative writing from
University of Iowa in 1942
Founded the Institute for the Study of the History, Life
and Culture of Black People in 1968
Won the National Endowment Award for the
Humanities in 1972
Won the White House Award for Distinguished Senior
Citizen
Died of cancer on November 30, 1998 in Chicago
Famous for her literature concerning black culture
We have been believers believing in the black gods of an
old land, believing in the secrets of the seeress and the
magic of the charmers and the power of the devil's evil
ones.
And in the white gods of a new land we have been
believers believing in the mercy of our masters and the
beauty of our brothers, believing in the conjure of the
humble and the faithful and the pure.
Neither the slaves' whip nor the lynchers' rope nor the
bayonet could kill our black belief. In our hunger we
beheld the welcome table and in our nakedness the
glory of a long white robe. We have been believers in
the new Jerusalem.
We have been believers feeding greedy grinning gods, like
a Moloch demanding our sons and our daughters, our
strength and our wills and our spirits of pain. We have
been believers, silent and stolid and stubborn and
strong.
We have been believers yielding substance for the world.
With our hands have we fed a people and out of our
strength have they wrung the necessities of a nation.
Our song has filled the twilight and our hope has
heralded the dawn.
Now we stand ready for the touch of one fiery iron, for
the cleansing breath of many molten truths, that the
eyes of the blind may see and the ears of the deaf may
hear and the tongues of the people be filled with living
fire.
Where are our gods that they leave us asleep? Surely the
priests and the preachers and the powers will hear.
Surely now that our hands are empty and our hearts
too full to pray they will understand. Surely the sires of
the people will send us a sign.
We have been believers believing in our burdens and our
demigods too long. Now the needy no longer weep
and pray; the long-suffering arise, and our fists bleed
against the bars with a strange insistency.
We have been believers believing in the black gods of an
old land, believing in the secrets of the seeress and the
magic of the charmers and the power of the devil's evil
ones.
And in the white gods of a new land we have been
believers believing in the mercy of our masters and the
beauty of our brothers, believing in the conjure of the
humble and the faithful and the pure.
Neither the slaves' whip nor the lynchers' rope nor the
bayonet could kill our black belief. In our hunger we
beheld the welcome table and in our nakedness the
glory of a long white robe. We have been believers in
the new Jerusalem.
We have been believers feeding greedy grinning gods, like
a Moloch demanding our sons and our daughters, our
strength and our wills and our spirits of pain. We have
been believers, silent and stolid and stubborn and
strong.
We have been believers yielding substance for the world.
With our hands have we fed a people and out of our
strength have they wrung the necessities of a nation.
Our song has filled the twilight and our hope has
heralded the dawn.
Now we stand ready for the touch of one fiery iron, for
the cleansing breath of many molten truths, that the
eyes of the blind may see and the ears of the deaf may
hear and the tongues of the people be filled with living
fire.
Where are our gods that they leave us asleep? Surely the
priests and the preachers and the powers will hear.
Surely now that our hands are empty and our hearts
too full to pray they will understand. Surely the sires of
the people will send us a sign.
We have been believers believing in our burdens and our
demigods too long. Now the needy no longer weep
and pray; the long-suffering arise, and our fists bleed
against the bars with a strange insistency.
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A black person, man or woman, speaking on
behalf of the black community as a whole
Speaks both of black culture and experience
Puts emphasis on black religious beliefs and
practices
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Belief in black culture
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Proud of their traditions- Nothing could “kill our
black belief.”
Later feels a sense of abandonment- “Where are our
gods?”
Black struggle in America
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Never has a positive view of white oppression
 Initially- “believing in the mercy of our masters”
 By the end, there is a call for action
 “believing in our burdens and our demigods too long.”
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8 stanzas
Free verse
Repetition of “We have been believers” to
emphasize the speaker’s main focus (black
belief)
Stanzas 1-5 are in the past tense
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Description of past beliefs and experiences
Stanzas 6-8 are in the present tense
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Speaker’s thoughts as to what the black community
should do moving forward
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Stanza 1
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Description of traditional African beliefs
 Seeress (prophetess), charmers, and the devil’s evil
ones (demons)
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Stanza 2
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Beginning of black experience in America
 “white gods of a new land” and “mercy of our masters”
 Reference to white dominance
 “beauty of our brothers”
 Fellow blacks
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Stanza 3
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Talks of black endurance through the hardships of
slavery and racism
 “the slaves' whip nor the lynchers' rope nor the
bayonet could kill our black belief.”
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Constant sense of faith, but now it is faith in Jesus
 “the new Jerusalem.”
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Stanza 4
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Describes black service to the whites through slavery
 Reference to the Moloch, a Semitic god
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Describes the blacks as stubborn, strong, silent, stolid
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Stanza 5
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Speaks of the importance of the slaves to America
 Their hands “wrung the necessities of a nation.”
 The song and hope are references to the slaves’ actions
and mindsets while working
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Stanza 6
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Hopes for a catalyst that will spark a movement for
equality and rights
 Heat imagery- “fiery iron” and “molten truths” and
“tongues of living fire”
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Stanza 7
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Feels a sense of abandonment
 Still optimistic that the powers and the people will hear
the message that they need to revolt against racism and
oppression
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Stanza 8
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States that they have accepted their “burdens”
(slavery/racism) and their “demigods” (whites) too
long
 It is time to fight for rights
 “Fists bleed against the bars with a strange insistency.”
 Image of a person in jail who yearns to escape
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Slaves’ whip/Lynchers’ rope/Bayonet
Representative of the oppression that the blacks faced
while enslaved
 Basis for the speaker’s call for change
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The new Jerusalem
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Image of hope and salvation for the black community
Fire
“Fiery iron”- what will cause the blacks to revolt
 Fiery tongues- how the blacks will act during revolt
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Gods
Black gods- depicted as good
 White gods- the slaves’ masters
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Most language is straightforward, but there are
a few uncommon religious references
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Seeress, Moloch
Often describes with alliteration
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“secrets of the seeress”
“mercy of our masters”
“beauty of our brothers”
“silent and stolid and stubborn and strong”
“the priests and the preachers and the powers will
hear”
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The poem is understandable, but some
unconventional word order is used
“And in the white gods of a new land we have been
believers”
 Breaks her convention of repeating the refrain at the
beginning of sentences
 Says “We have been believers believing in…” as
opposed to “We have believed in…” to add
emphasis to their belief in tradition
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“We Have Been Believers” straightforwardly
tells of the speaker’s views of black culture and
experience. She notices that their old gods
were replaced with new, white demigods (their
masters). She describes the hardships that
blacks have faced in America, specifically
slavery. Her final plea to the black community
shows her desire for change to occur. She
doesn’t expect society to change itself. Instead,
she believes that the blacks will have to work to
achieve change.
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Biographies
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http://www.olemiss.edu/depts/english/mswriters/dir/alexander_margaret_walker/
http://www.english.uiuc.edu/maps/poets/s_z/wa
lker/walker.htm