Claude McKay’s Harlem Shadows (1922) has moving, lyrical verses that capture his nostalgia for Jamaica, and empathy for the unjust plight of Black people around the world. These are passionate poems, with calls for human decency, dignity and justice in a needlessly cruel world.

“If we must die, 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 accursed lot.”

This collection includes the poems:

• THE EASTER FLOWER
• FLAME-HEART
• THE SPANISH NEEDLE
• ENSLAVED
• I SHALL RETURN
• MORNING JOY
• AFRICA
• ON A PRIMITIVE CANOE
• THE HARLEM DANCER
• THE CASTAWAYS
• THE LYNCHING
• IF WE MUST DIE