The question asks students to analyze the two poems, “If We Must Die” and “The Negro Speaks of Rivers,” assigned during Week 1.
Please answer the following questions:
What are the poems “If We Must Die” by Claude McKay and “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” by Langston Hughes about? What are the main themes of each poem? What do you think the authors are trying to convey?
How do each of these poems reflect the ideology of the “New Negro”? In your opinion, are the views expressed by the two authors in these poems consistent with the intellectual and cultural developments that took place in Black urban centers during the Great Migration? Why or why not?
In Week 1, you learned about some of the various forms of anti-Black violence that African American communities faced at the beginning of the twentieth century. How does Claude McKay’s “If We Must Die” relate to African American’s responses to that anti-Black violence? What forms of resistance to violence and political oppression do you think he has in mind?
Readings links and PDF files:https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44694/if-we…https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44428/the-n…
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