University of Virginia Library

Churchill's Poem

One incident was the reading of a poem by
Winston Churchill to the United States
Congress as he tried to get approval of a loan
for 50 destroyers, prior to the U.S. entry into
World War II.

Churchill accredited the poem - written by
Claude McKay, a Black writer - to an
'anonymous' author. Winston Churchill read
with compassion. "If we must die let it not be
like hogs ... If we must die let us nobly die ..
Dying but fighting back." Claude McKay had
written the poem after witnessing lynchings and
mob violence by Southern whites during the
1920's.

Mr. Bontemps saw the real break through of
the Harlem Renaissance as the spectacular
success of Carl Van Deckman's bestseller,
Nigger Heaven. This was followed by Claude
McKay's bestseller, "Home to Harlem."
According to Mr. Bontemps "Home to Harlem"
by Claude McKay "drew fire from the Black
Bourgeoisie," charging that it "placed too much
emphasis on the degenerate aspects of Harlem
life."