This image from the What Do Brothas Do All Day ‘zine includes an excerpt from “Little Brown Baby,” a poem by Paul Laurence Dunbar. I’ve reprinted the text of the excerpt below.
Ajuan Mance
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Little brown baby wif spa’klin’ eyes,
Come to yo’ pappy an’ set on his knee.
What you been doin’, suh — makin’ san’ pies?
Look at dat bib — you’s es du’ty ez me.
Look at dat mouf — dat’s merlasses, I bet;
Come hyeah, Maria, an’ wipe off his han’s.
Bees gwine to ketch you an’ eat you up yit,
Bein’ so sticky an sweet — goodness lan’s!
—From “Little Brown Baby” by Paul Laurence Dunbar, in Poems of Cabin and Field (1895)