If We Must Die

Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1919

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Summary

Background

Poem Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Literary Devices

Background

Historical Context: The Harlem Renaissance and Early 20th Century

At the turn of the 19th century, America had a lot going on. The era of westward expansion was coming to a close, industrialization and urbanization intensified, and immigration from European countries flooded cities with new cultures, businesses, languages, and people. But despite the nation’s progress, great divides and problems still persisted. Echoes of slavery—like sharecropping, Jim Crow, and the Ku Klux Klan—oppressed the former slaves and their children. Wealth inequality between white and Black people continued to expand. Additionally, segregation and racism existed at the core of the country’s legal and political systems.

In the second half of the 1910s, a slew of issues struck the country at once. World War I brought the world into the modern age of horrific warfare and atrocity, the Spanish Flu pandemic killed more people than any pandemic in centuries, and the mass migration of African Americans from the South to the North in search of work and a better life led to white backlash in the form of riots and violence.

In this world grew the Harlem Renaissance, a movement centered around the Harlem neighborhood in New York City. This movement saw the rise of Black culture in America through poetry, fiction, art, and music. Jazz grew from this movement and became the most popular form of entertainment in the country. Powerful thinkers like W. E. B. Du Bois, Langston Hughes, and Zora Neale Hurston founded and led organizations like the NAACP and wrote essays advocating for racial justice and change. Throughout the 1920s, the Harlem Renaissance represented the artistic and intellectual movement for racial equity in America.

McKay’s “If We Must Die” was one of the first poems on the Harlem Renaissance scene. Its rallying cry for self-defense and its belief in the victory of the oppressed inspired other artists and thinkers, and it stood as a symbol for the movement.

Literary Context: Form and Content in the Harlem Renaissance

A central debate of the Harlem Renaissance was how much art should reflect Black culture and how much it should appropriate white tradition. Additionally, thinkers debated the purpose of art and its role in the fight for justice. For example, there was the question of whether literature should depict Black culture as flattering as possible to gain the recognition of white people, thus advancing the cause of racial justice. Alternatively, there was the opinion that Black writers have a responsibility to depict Black life and culture honestly, with all its positives and negatives; some argued such portrayals would fuel existing stereotypes about what it meant to be Black. These debates still continue today.

In poetry, this debate often centered around language and form. Some argued that it is better for a Black author to write with their own unique dialect, slang, and vocabulary, while others argued that a Black author should write in the style of the “classics,” which are predominantly works of white men. A central question was whether authenticity or tradition is the most important thing for poetry.

Different authors had different perspectives about these questions, but McKay felt it was important to represent the raw feelings and experiences of Black Americans. That said, he was not against utilizing tradition to express his message. This is why he can write a sonnet (a traditional form) about a violent and honest message about justice and self-defense. And as a Jamaican-born writer living in America, McKay was fond of blending “non-traditional” sounds and structures with convention. “If We Must Die” showcases much of McKay’s appreciation of traditional poetic structure, but it also appropriates that tradition to pursue a progressive cause.