A Piece Of Ground

When the white man first came here from over the seas He looked and he said, this is God's own country He was mighty well pleased with this land that he'd found And he said I will make here my own piece of ground Now many's the battle he still had to fight Many's the family that died in the night For many were the black men that lived all around And all of them wanting their own piece of ground Then one fine day in 1883 Gold was discovered in good quantity The country was rich, much richer than planned And each digger wanted his own piece of land Now the white diggers were few and the gold was so deep That the black man was called 'cause his labor was cheap With drill and with shovel he toiled underground For six pennies a day to tender the ground Now this land is so rich and it seems strange to me That the black man whose labor has helped it to be Cannot enjoy the fruits that abound Is uprooted and kicked from his own piece of ground Some people say now don't you worry We've kept you a nice piece of reserve territory But how can a life for so many be found On a miserable thirty per cent of the ground? Yet, some people say now don't you worry You can always find jobs in the white man's city But don't stay too long and don't stay too deep Or you're bound to disturb the white man in his sleep White man don't sleep long and don't sleep too deep Or your life and your possessions, how long will you keep? For I've heard a rumor that's running around That the black man's demanding his own piece of ground His own piece of ground