1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open the book to page 23.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the sentence in your journal…along with these instructions.
At length a golden sun broke through the gloom,
and from his smiles arose a sweet pferfume —
A calm ensued, and birds began to sing,
and lo! the sacred muse resumed her wing.
from The Vintage Book of African American Poetry, George Moses Horton (1797?-1883?), “On hearing of the intention of a gentleman to purchase the poet’s freedom”. George Horton did not gain freedom until 1865, after living through three generations of Horton ownership. Hearing of Empancipation, he escaped to the Northern infantry, and is presumed to have died in Philadelphia around 1883.
