Poet Kevin Young, editor of the Library of America anthology "African American Poetry: 250 Years of Struggle and Song," reads the 1919 poem by Claude McKay. McKay wrote the poem as a response to the atrocities wreaked upon AfricanAmerican communities by white supremacists during that year's infamous "Red Summer."

For more information about the Lift Every Voice project, please visit:
https://www.africanamericanpoetry.org/

For further details about "African American Poetry: 250 Years of Struggle and Song," and to purchase the book, visit:
https://www.loa.org/books/640african...

Produced by Intelligent Television, Inc.

Music: "Lift Every Voice And Sing"—Charles Lloyd, Lift Every Voice, ℗ 2002 ECM Records GmbH, under exclusive license to Deutsche Grammophon GmbH, Berlin. Provided to YouTube by Universal Music Group.