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Dudley Randall’s “Booker T. and W.E.B.” · The Daily Poem

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  [music]
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  SPEAKER_00: Welcome back to The Daily Poem, a podcast from Goldberry Studios.
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  SPEAKER_00: I'm Sean Johnson, and today is Wednesday, November 4th, 2026.
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  SPEAKER_00: Today's poem is by Dudley Randall, and it's called Booker T and W.E.B.
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  SPEAKER_00: It captures in dialogue form the now famous competing philosophies
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  SPEAKER_00: for the advancement of Black America that were Defended and embodied by Booker T.
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  SPEAKER_00: Washington and W.E.B. Du Bois.
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  SPEAKER_00: And sometimes their positions are contrasted as activism on the part
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  SPEAKER_00: of Du Bois versus something like quietism by Washington.
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  SPEAKER_00: Whereas I really think they're better understood as two different kinds of activism.
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  SPEAKER_00: And this poem captures some of that.
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  SPEAKER_00: There is a public academic and rhetorical activism, but the The work of Booker T.
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  SPEAKER_00: Washington is its own kind of activism, the quiet, labor-in-progress approach.
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  SPEAKER_00: I selected this poem today not only because it is a valuable expression
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  SPEAKER_00: of the particular experience of a particular group of Americans,
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  SPEAKER_00: but this being the day after Election Day, many people are probably still feeling...
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  SPEAKER_00: Political hangovers for one reason or another.
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  SPEAKER_00: And this poem is also an expression of something that is more universal
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  SPEAKER_00: to all Americans, maybe to all people who live in a democratic society
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  SPEAKER_00: and think seriously about how to realize the world around them,
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  SPEAKER_00: the culture that they want to see here's
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  SPEAKER_00: the home Booker T and W E B It seems to me,
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  SPEAKER_00: said Booker T., it shows a mighty lot of cheek to study chemistry and Greek when Mr.
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  SPEAKER_00: Charlie needs a hand to hoe the cotton on his land.
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  SPEAKER_00: And when Miss Anne looks for a cook, why stick your nose inside a book?
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  SPEAKER_00: I don't agree, said W.E.B.
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  SPEAKER_00: If I should have the drive to seek knowledge of chemistry or Greek, I'll do it.
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  SPEAKER_00: Charles and Miss can look another place for a hand or cook.
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  SPEAKER_00: Some men rejoice in skill of hand and some in cultivating land.
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  SPEAKER_00: But there are others who maintain the right to cultivate the brain.
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  SPEAKER_00: It seems to me, said Booker T.,
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  SPEAKER_00: that all you folks have missed the boat who shout about the right to vote
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  SPEAKER_00: and spend vain days and sleepless nights in uproar over civil rights.
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  SPEAKER_00: Just keep your mouth shut.
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  SPEAKER_00: Do not grouse, but work and save and buy a house.
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  SPEAKER_00: I don't agree, said W.E.B., for what can property avail if dignity and justice fail?
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  SPEAKER_00: Unless you help to make the laws, they'll steal your house with trumped-up claws.
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  SPEAKER_00: A rope's as tight, a fire as hot, no matter how much cash you've got.
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  SPEAKER_00: Speak soft and try your little plan, but as for me, I'll be a man.
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  SPEAKER_00: It seems to me, said Booker T., I don't agree, said W.E.B.
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  SPEAKER_00: This has been The Daily Poem.
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  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for listening.
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  SPEAKER_00: We'll be back with a subscriber episode tomorrow and then here on the main channel on Friday.
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  SPEAKER_00: You can find all of our past episodes of The Daily Poem at dailypoempod.substack.com
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_00: where you can become a supporting subscriber and get access to those Tuesday,
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  SPEAKER_00: Thursday episodes.
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  SPEAKER_00: You can leave your thoughts and comments on each day's poem,
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  SPEAKER_00: share them with your friends, connect with other poetry lovers, you name it.
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  SPEAKER_00: Till next time, for all of us at Goldberry Studios, I'm Sean Johnson wishing you happy reading.