Alabama Centennial
“Alabama Centennial” is a poem from Naomi Long
Madgett’s third book of poems, Star by Star,pub-
lished in 1965. It is representative of one of the two
general categories into which her poems are di-
vided: the lyric poems of her youth (influenced by
Romanticism), and the more directly political
works which recognize and trumpet the importance
of civil rights issues for African Americans in the
1950s and 1960s. Clearly, “Alabama Centennial”
falls into the latter category as it is a rhetorical re-
counting of the protest slogans and activist experi-
ence in Montgomery, Alabama, and other places.
The poem was the result of a conversation Mad-
gett had with a visiting scholar from the Nether-
lands, Rosey E. Pool. They first met in Detroit,
where Madgett was to live for most of her life, and
then began a correspondence. Clearly the poem is
a proclamation of the strength of African Ameri-
cans in their fight for civil rights. By mentioning
certain historical protests and marches, it also
serves as a chronicle. Perhaps it is most vehement
though as a demand, as with its recounting of the
trials and suffering of African Americans it an-
nounces that “the chain of patient acquiescence”
has broken and the time for equality and dignity is
“Now!”
Author Biography.
Madgett was born July 5, 1923, in Norfolk, Vir-
ginia. Her father Clarence Marcellus Long was a
Naomi Long Madgett
1965
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