Side by side with the whites she walked,
Step after step the Southerners balked,
But Illinois, fond of order and grace,
Stuck to the black Queen of our race.
Page after page in history you’ll read
Of one who was ready and able to lead,
Who set the nation on fire with her pace
And the Heroine will be the Queen of our race.
Excerpt from From Mental Pearls, a book of original poems by Bettiola H. Fortson (published by Julius F. Taylor in 1915)