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4 days ago · Claude McKay (born September 15, 1889, Nairne Castle, Jamaica, British West Indies—died May 22, 1948, Chicago, Illinois, U.S.) was a Jamaican-born American poet and novelist who was one of the leading voices of the Harlem Renaissance. His book Home to Harlem (1928) was the most popular novel written by a Black American author to that time.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Who Was Claude McKay?
- Early Life
- Literary Career
- Later Life and Death
Claude McKay moved to Harlem, New York, after publishing his first books of poetry, and established himself as a literary voice for social justice during the Harlem Renaissance. He is known for his novels, essays and poems, including "If We Must Die" and "Harlem Shadows." He died on May 22, 1948, in Chicago, Illinois.
Festus Claudius McKay was born in Sunny Ville, Clarendon Parish, Jamaica, on September 15, 1889. His mother and father spoke proudly of their respective Malagasy and Ashanti heritage. McKay blended his African pride with his love of British poetry. He studied poetry and philosophy with Englishman Walter Jekyll, who encouraged the young man to begin...
A London publishing house produced McKay's first books of verse, Songs of Jamaica and Constab Ballads, in 1912. McKay used award money that he received from the Jamaican Institute of Arts and Sciences to move to the United States. He studied at the Tuskegee Institute (now Tuskegee University) and Kansas State College for a total of two years. In 19...
McKay went through several changes toward the end of his life. He embraced Catholicism, retreating from Communism entirely, and officially became an American citizen in 1940. His experiences working with Catholic relief organizations in New York inspired a new essay collection, Harlem: Negro Metropolis, which offers observations and analysis of the...
Festus Claudius "Claude" McKay OJ (September 15, 1890 – May 22, 1948) was a Jamaican-American writer and poet. He was a central figure in the Harlem Renaissance . Born in Jamaica, McKay first travelled to the United States to attend college, and encountered W. E. B. Du Bois 's The Souls of Black Folk which stimulated McKay's interest in ...
Claude McKay, born Festus Claudius McKay in Sunny Ville, Jamaica in 1889, was a key figure in the Harlem Renaissance, a prominent literary movement of the 1920s. His work ranged from vernacular verse celebrating peasant life in Jamaica to poems that protested racial and economic inequities.
Claude McKay was an early twentieth-century author of poetry, essays, novels, and short stories. One of the pioneering figures of the literary and artistic movement known as the Harlem Renaissance, he has historically been best known for his poem, “If We Must Die” , which first appeared in July 1919 in the Liberator in response to the ...
May 14, 2018 · Claude McKay (1890-1948), Jamaican-born poet and novelist, is often called "the first voice of the Harlem renaissance." His verse and fiction are best known for protesting the social evils that plagued blacks. Claude McKay was born in Jamaica, British West Indies, on Sept. 15, 1890. He began writing poetry, principally in Jamaican dialect ...
Claude McKay was an early 20th-century poet known for his role in the Harlem Renaissance, with his verse driven by themes of Black identity, social injustice, and the pursuit of freedom. The dialectic poetry of Claude McKay was some of the first of its kind to find success in the literary scene of the United States.
