The Present Crisis

[2] In 1844, John Greenleaf Whittier, a poet actively working for the antislavery movement, asked Lowell to write a poem to inspire others.

In a letter to Lowell, Whittier wrote: "Give me one that shall be to our cause what the song of Rouget de Lisle was to the French Republicans", referring to "La Marseillaise", now the national anthem of France.

[4] The poem was immediately successful, both critically and among readers, in part by invoking the country's past as a way to remind people of the present day to strive to be on the right side of history.

[2] In the summer of 1910, when members of National Association for the Advancement of Colored People were preparing to create a magazine for the organization, Mary White Ovington mentioned Lowell's poem "The Present Crisis".

[9] On February 11, 2021, an excerpt from "The Present Crisis" was quoted by Dr. Barry Black as part of the opening prayer at the second impeachment trial of Donald Trump.