This poem is dedicated to the unbroken chain of black poets who have given us a Legacy of Poetic Treasure for Us All to share.
To the Legacy of Fitzgerald Beaver, The Founder of The Facts Weekly Newspaper in Seattle WA
If We Must Die
If we must die ---- let it not be like hogs
Huntedand penned in an inglorious spot,
While around us bark the mad and hungry dogs,
Making their mock at our accursed lot,
If we must die ---- oh, 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 !
Oh Kinsman !! We must meet the common foe;
Though far outnumbered,let us show us brave,
And for their thousand blows deal one deathblow !
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 !!
The author of this poem is Claude McKay (1891-1948).He was born in Jamaica;He attended school at Tuskegee Institute in Alabama;Associate Editor of the Liberator Newspaper in New York;an acclaimed poet in the literary life of Harlem in New York city in America.He was noted world-wide for both his prose and poetry books.A strong link in The Unbroken Chain of Black Poetry !!
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