Despite the fact that institutionalized slavery is now illegal, African Americans are “tied and shackled” by laws that enforce segregation and permit injustice. As if this history of slavery were not enough, the traditions—if not the legality—of slavery have remained. In 1937, when the poem was written, African Americans were barred from many educational institutions and from entering into certain professions. They were also subject to violence and health problems that white people were not. Treated as second-class citizens, as Walker illustrates, African Americans endured the remnants of slavery and the ideology behind it.

The speaker describes black people as being “lost,” “disinherited,” and “dispossessed.” They have lost their homes and families as a result of enslavement and Jim Crow laws, and they have also lost much of their cultural inheritance and history. They are dispossessed in the sense that they have lost security and safety, their cultural identity has been systematically stripped from them, and they have few financial, educational, or employment opportunities. Further, they are still expected to serve white people, depriving them of the products of their own labor. They are still shackled by racism in both laws and in the dominant, white culture.

In the end, the speaker says that a new earth will have to rise, that it will have to be born, perhaps of a “bloody peace.” It is unlikely that those in power will give up without a fight, so a fight is what will be required in order for a new kind of people to “rise and take control” of the world. A new generation will have to overthrow the old generation, requiring courage and a drive for freedom. Healing and beauty will be borne of the blood that will have to be spilled. Though this will be painful, Walker asserts it will be necessary in order to effect change.