We shall not always plant while others reap The golden increment of bursting fruit,
Not always countenance, abject and mute,
That lesser men should hold their brothers cheap;
Not everlastingly while others sleep . . .

When Cullen speaks of planting while others reap, and standing "abject and mute," he is speaking about the
injustices present in American society. As these injustices have changed over time, the American
has also shifted. Those changes are, in turn, reflected in American literature.