The Past and Present of Black History Month Poetry
The Past and Present of Black History Month Poetry
By ShayLa Blake
If We Must Die
Claude McKay
If we must die, let it not be like hogs
Hunted and penned in an inglorious spot,
While round us bark the mad and hungry dogs,
Making their mock at our accursèd lot.
If we must die, O let us nobly die,
So that our precious blood may not be shed
In vain; then even the monsters we defy
Shall be constrained to honor us though dead!
O kinsmen! we must meet the common foe!
Though far outnumbered let us show us brave,
And for their thousand blows deal one death-blow!
What though before us lies the open grave?
Like men we’ll face the murderous, cowardly pack,
Pressed to the wall, dying, but fighting back!
Claude McKay, a Harlem Renaissance writer, writes the story of pride in If We Must Die. In his poem, he portrays the oppression of African American people and calls them to rise above their harsh treatment— to be better than those who wish to bring them down. Written during a time of segregation and the Black Community’s still immense oppression, McKay calls for Black people to proudly pronounce their culture and to fight against oppression.
the way out and the way forward
Cleo Wade
I loved myself
through what I had
been through
this is how
I stayed afloat
even when
life’s waters
raised above my head
and when I needed
someone to trust
this is how I knew
which hands
were helping hands
and which
were hurting hands
New up and coming poet Cleo Wade tells the story of healing through the rough times in life. Telling the story of how when things looked most dark, she was able to save herself and get through the tough times by her own will. She goes on to say that it’s in the tough times you realize who really works to help you in life and who exists only to bring you down.
Cleo Wade and Claude McKay are only two of hundreds. Such courageous voices need to be heard, need to be recognized for their valor in both our modern day era and the preceding movements that defined it. The time for progress and change remains, but what we choose to do with it depends entirely upon our ability to see what’s ahead.