To be young, gifted and black
Oh what a lovely precious dream
To be young, gifted and black
Open up your heart to what I mean
'Cause you know in this whole wide world
There's a million, A MILLION boys and girls
Who are young, gifted and black
And that's a fact
To be young, gifted and black
We must begin to tell our young
Don't you know there's a whole world waiting for you?
Don't you know the quest has just begun for you?
Haven't you heard that the joy-
-The joy
-The joy of the day is
That one day that we all be proud to say
That we were young, gifted and black
And it's sho' 'nuff where it's at