We Wear the Mask

We wear the mask that grins and lies,

It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes,—

This debt we pay to human guile;

With torn and bleeding hearts we smile,

And mouth with myriad subtleties.

Why should the world be over-wise,

In counting all our tears and sighs?

Nay, let them only see us, while

       We wear the mask.

We smile, but, O great Christ, our cries

To thee from tortured souls arise.

We sing, but oh the clay is vile

Beneath our feet, and long the mile;

But let the world dream otherwise,

       We wear the mask!

 

From James Weldon Johnson’s We wear the mask. Reader can know the condition at that time period. Africa-Americans lived really hard. If they want to talk or do something with white people, they have to were a mask so white will treat them little bit better. If they do not wear the mask white people will still treat them really bad. Only when they are facing Africa-American they can take off the mask. That is the real of Africa-American, but they have to wear the mask for life.