Hey Black Child ( Useni Eugene Perkins)

Useni Eugene Perkins is the author of "Hey Black Child", a poem that has been well-known in Black American households since the mid-1970s. The poem was originally a song that was performed during The Black Fairy, a play written by Perkins in 1974. Following the play's success, Perkins' brother Toussaint Perkins published a poster with the lyrics to "Hey Black Child", but only cited Perkins' first name "Useni" on the poster. This may have led to confusion as the poem has been incorrectly attributed to Maya Angelou and Countee Cullen. In 2017, Perkins published a children's book with an illustrated version of the poem.
The poem makes use of repetition in order to inform a black child, over and over, that they are strong and capable of anything they want to do. The speaker addresses the listener, a young black child, and tells him/her that they can do anything they choose if they set their mind to it. The poem concludes by alluding to a future that is different from the poet’s contemporary present. This is a future that has not yet come to pass in America, making this poem as relevant now as it was then.