If We Must Die by Claude McKay.

One of the greatest poems in literary history. Take a few minutes to read this powerful poem written during the Harlem Renaissance and influenced by the writings and scholarship of W.E.B. DuBois.

If We Must Diè

If we must diè, let it not be like hogs
Hunted and penned in an inglorious spot,
While round us bark the mad and hungry dogs,
Making their mock at our accursèd lot.
If we must die, 0 let us nobly dìe,
So that our precious blood may not be shed
In vain; then even the mónsters we defy
Shall be constrained to honor us though dead!
O kinsmen! we must meet the common foe!
Though far outnumbered let us show us brave,
And for their thousand blows deal one death-blow!
What though before us lies the open grave?
Like men we’ll face the mùrderous, cowardly pack,
Pressed to the wall, dying, but fighting back!
History is not there for you to like or dislike. It is there for you to learn from it. And if it offends you, even better. Because then you are less likely to repeat it. It’s not yours for you to erase or dèstroy.