Toss the rags of the nigger away
go down in the water
be baptized by the river of equality.
Let it cleanse your soul of pain and sorrow
Let it cool old hate, hot as Birmingham asphalt.

Wash the blood of the nigger from your back
rise up clean and whole, relieved of the past
as the soul of a nigger drifts away
and the soul of a man takes its place.
A soul free to live, to work, to be.