Claude McKay (1890-1948) is a black Jamaican born poet who wrote during the Harlem Renaissance. This is a time immediately following WWI. Slavery had already been abolished and there was an abundance of racial tension. In 1919 McKay writes a poem "If We Must Die," in which he expresses the anger he felt towards the racial situation of the time. By 1919 slavery had already been abolished but the white people treated blacks as if they were of a much lower class. McKay has several messages for two different audiences, a black audience who is afraid to stand up for themselves, and a repressing white audience afraid to accept blacks as equals.
             The African Americans of 1919 are McKay's central audience. Because McKay is black himself, he knows how his race is being treated. At this time black people are being forced to live undesirable lifestyles. McKay's first message to his black audience is to not let the racist white people of 1919 to force them to live in ghettos, and ride in the back of buses (accursed lot). In 1919 blacks struggled to find good jobs, and had to go to different schools from white people. Black people are being discriminated against because of their color and slave background. McKay's second message to his fellow blacks is that they are allowing white people to treat them like insignificant animals (...like hogs). McKay felt as though they were many black people who were frustrated with being treated second class and he wanted them to stop being so passive. In line five McKay gives his people another message. He told the black people of 1919 that it is inevitable that they are going to die (must die) whether they fight for equality or not. He wants them to at least go to their grave with a little dignity (nobly die) and not be so passive. Another message McKay sends to his black community is that they need to communicate with each other and stand up to the white people togeth...