Category: Claude McKay
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After Winter
“We’ll turn our faces southward, love…” As winter sets in, Claude McKay envisions a return to the warmth of the tropics. Read this classic Harlem Renaissance poem about seeking shelter, quiet hills, and the promise of spring.
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“If We Must Die”
“Oh, Kinsmen! We must meet the common foe; Though far outnumbered, let us still be brave, And for their thousand blows deal one death-blow!…”— from “If We Must Die” by Claude McKay
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“The Harlem Dancer” by Claude McKay (1889 – 1948)
The wine-flushed, bold-eyed boys, and even the girls, Devoured her shape with eager, passionate gaze; But looking at her falsely-smiling face, I knew her self was not in that strange place.
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“Harlem Shadows” by Claude McKay
“…Ah, little dark girls who in slippered feet Go prowling through the night from street to street!…”
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“After the Winter” by Claude McKay (1889–1948)
Some day, when trees have shed their leaves And against the morning’s white The shivering birds beneath the eaves Have sheltered for the night…,