African American Pledge. As African-Americans, we pledge to ourselves, to the United States of America, and to the universe that—[title and opening lines of broadside]

Rare 1991 broadside linking youth conduct to Black freedom struggle

---

Broadside presenting the “African American Pledge” written by Mary Helen Patton, printed in bold Pan-African red, black, and green. The text appears within the silhouette of the African continent, visually uniting the words with a powerful emblem of diaspora identity. The piece embodies the Black nationalist and self-determination ethos that shaped African American cultural politics in the final decades of the twentieth century.

Through twenty statements, the pledge grounds personal conduct in collective history. Its affirmations denounce drugs and bribery, exalt education, and call for moral integrity and solidarity. Refrains of “We will” underscore determination to build a future rooted in dignity, responsibility, and remembrance. Among its most resonant lines: “We will refuse to be slaves to fashion. Slavery to fashion can cause the mind to stray from more important things in life” and “We will not lose our self-worth, identity or place in the Universe as African-American People” and “We will never forget the struggle of our people for Freedom; therefore, we will keep this in the forefront of our lives forever.” The rhetoric explicitly addresses youth as “the future of tomorrow,” situating individual behavior as essential to group survival and progress.

The broadside’s closing call to keep “Eyes on the Prize” ties the pledge to the civil rights movement, linking earlier struggles to later affirmations of cultural pride and resilience. Both a moral code and a public declaration, the broadside is unrecorded in OCLC and noted only in the Guide to the Sharon Pratt Kelly Papers at Howard University.

Price: $150.00