“The Negro’s ‘America’” appears in Coffin’s Poems with Ajax’ Ordeals (The Colored Advocate, 1897) by Frank Barbour Coffin. In the book’s preface, Coffin wrote, “Brief is our life here, precious is the time, and great the work to do, and a few thoughts in print has [sic] the possibility of a longer life than a man. ‘The night cometh when no man can work.’ How sweet, if it might be, that when the day is ended, we may have left some watch words still ringing in the ears of those who come after us. And I may be permitted to hope that these meditations may have such power, in their modest way. They will be easily passed by but may have a message for hearts that will look and listen. There is, certainly in this age, a want of writing that shall rest and brace the mind. It is well to extend natural and spontaneous thoughts, especially that which the heart has laid by in store. We must be militant here on earth, militant against every form of error.”