In these pages, I offer whispers - some soft, some trembling, some burning - drawn from the deep well of our shared history. 101 Poems: A Legacy of Courage is my tribute to the ancestors who endured the unendurable, who sang through sorrow, who stitched resilience into every breath so that we might rise. These poems are not merely stories, they are echoes. Echoes of shackled footsteps, of lullabies heavy with longing, of hands that held on when everything was built to break us. They honor the weight of memory, the fire of resistance, and the unwavering strength that has carried Black people through centuries of pain and triumph. Here, grief becomes a teacher. Hope becomes a lantern. And the voices of those who came before us guide every line, urging us to remember, to reflect, and to reclaim what was stolen. As you move through the collection, you’ll feel the pulse of ancestral courage, poems that confront injustice with unflinching honesty, verses that cradle the tenderness of love and community, and reflections that invite healing where wounds still run deep. This is a journey through shadow and light, sorrow and celebration, silence and uprising. But this book is more than remembrance. It’s a call forward. A reminder that the fight for justice is not a relic but reality - alive in our breath, our choices, our collective voice. Each poem carries both a burden and a blessing: the burden of truth and the blessing of hope. May these whispers stir something within you - courage, clarity, compassion. May they remind you that we are the descendants of survivors, dreamers, warriors. And may they inspire you to continue the legacy: to stand, to speak, to heal, and to rise. This is our story. Our courage. Our new dawn.