John Greenleaf Whittier based the poem on an interaction between Oliver Otis Howard, at the time a general in the Union Army, and Richard R. Wright, a young Black man.
[5] Wright wrote Whittier in March 1869, criticizing him for using the word "massa", noting that "I have given up that word.”[4] The phrase "we are rising" became very popular.
[8] The book Habitations of the Veil argues that Whittier uses the poem to "comment upon the moral fitness of the newly freed slaves for citizenry", writing that instead of Howard himself being the "hero", it is Wright—despite the fact that he is never mentioned by name.
It continues to say that the incident made Wright famous; he later capitalized on the fame and became president of Georgia State Industrial College for Colored Youth.
The book concludes that the poem is "neither regular nor remarkable [for Whittier]" and notes that it includes lines that could be understood as being condescending, such as "the little black people".