Way I hears it:
January 1966 is when the tall man
Of Mississippi loaned his store to the colored folks, wailing to the wayfaring saints:
His proposition:
Pay the poll tax; own the right to vote.
Your forty in acres, your mule– Vote!
The right is yours; hang your heads up- Vote!
Loads of them heard his cry
Traveled on down the road
Planning to pay the tax, so they could own the right to vote
A penalty the Tall Man paid on
January 10th of 66
The Ku Klux Klan spoke loud: Roused
A fire in honor of Mr. Vernon Dahmer, Sr.
Burned his body–but not his name!
from I Am Black America by Ramona L. Hyman, PhD
Dr. Hyman's African American Culture Review 