Why was Claude McKay’s poem “If We Must Die” important?

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The Weary Blues cover — Harlem Renaissance Dust jacket designed by the Mexican illustrator and writer Miguel Covarrubias for Langston Hughes's *The Weary Blues* (1926), a book of experimental poetry.

Claude McKay’s 1919 poem “If We Must Die” is significant primarily for its militant tone, which established McKay as a leading and foundational voice of the Harlem Renaissance.

The poem is recognized as a key example of the assertive, defiant spirit that characterized much of McKay’s early work during this period. By embracing a formal sonnet structure to convey a powerful message of resistance against racism, McKay distinguished himself as the first major poet of the movement. His collection Harlem Shadows (1922), which featured “If We Must Die,” is often cited by critics as the first major literary achievement of the Harlem Renaissance, helping to define the era's artistic and political identity.12