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.
Early Life
Claude McKay was born Festus Claudius McKay in Sunny Ville, Jamaica, in September of 1889. McKay’s parents, Thomas Francis McKay and Hannah Ann Elizabeth Edwards, were farmers and Baptists who were successful enough to qualify for the right to vote. They were also of Malagasy (from Madagascar) and Ashanti heritage, a fact which McKay would incorporate into his works. McKay had a complicated relationship with his parents but was proud of the ancestors from whom he descended.
Education
As a boy, McKay was educated at Mt. Zion Church. He then went on to live with his older brother. It was here that he was educated in literature, philosophy, science, and theology. By the age of ten, he had started writing poetry. For a time, the young McKay became an apprentice to a cabinet maker. He would eventually meet a man, Walter Jekyll, who encouraged him to focus on writing in his native dialect.
McKay’s first book of poetry, ‘Songs of Jamaica,’ was published in 1912. These were the first works ever published in Jamaican Patois, a dialect of English words spoken in an African structure. The work was so iconic that McKay was awarded recognition from the Jamaican Institute of Arts and Sciences.
His second volume, ‘Constab Ballads,‘ followed that same year. This work focused on the time he spent in the constabulary in 1911. He spent a period of his as a constable in Kingston, the Jamaican capital.
It was around this same period that McKay traveled to the U.S. and Alabama and attended Tuskegee Institute. He encountered a shocking amount of racism while there, seen through the people of South Carolina and their segregated facilities. This forced McKay to transfer to Kansas State College only two months later. In 1914, McKay moved to New York City and married Eulalie Lewars. A few years later, he published two poems under the pseudonym Eli Edwards.
In the late 1910s, he worked as the editor of The Liberator. It was in this publication that he published his most famous poem, ‘If We Must Die.’ It was included alongside, ‘Red Summer.’ These works were set against a period of racial violence against black people throughout white societies.
Communist Affiliations
It was in 1919 that McKay moved to London and began promoting his beliefs of militant atheism. He joined the Rationalist Press Association and depended on his ties to communism. He was an avid reader of Marx and a member of the International Socialist Club. He became close friends with a number of other well-known members.
McKay was then invited to write for the Worker’s Dreadnought. In this publication, McKay wrote a notable reaction to a racist article that had been included in the Daily Herald, which had insinuated black people as being subject to a hyper-sexuality. In 1920 he published ‘Spring in New Hampshire and Other Poems.‘
Due to his continued association with The Worker’s Dreadnaught, and his eventual position as a paid writer for the publication, he is considered to be one of, if not the first black journalists in Britain. In November of 1922, McKay traveled to Russia, where he took part in the Fourth Congress of the Communist International in Petrograd and Moscow.
It was in this same year that he published one of his better-known volumes, ‘Harlem Shadows.’ This work included pieces from previous publications and volumes, including ‘If We Must Die.’ It was repackaged, signed, and sold to help fund his travels. McKay was very welcome in Russia and claimed to have been treated like a “rock-star.” However, McKay consistently denied his affiliation to the Communist Party, even though he had engaged in a number of trips to the Soviet Union.
It was through ‘Harlem Shadows,’ that his position as a leading member of the Harlem Renaissance was solidified. He had become associated with the Universal Negro Improvement Association and began writing for Negro World.
Later Life
It was during his later travels in Paris, France, that he fell ill. His inability to work for any period of time forced him to take on work as an artist’s model. The respiratory infection which he had contracted worsened, and he was admitted to a hospital. This brief respite from travel and writing did not last long, and he was soon touring around Europe and parts of North Africa. He lived here until he returned back to America in the mid-1930s.
It was during this period that he published three novels, as well as a collection of short stories. The first novel, Home to Harlem, is regarded as one of his best-known works. It was published in 1928 and tells the story of a black soldier who abandons the military and returns to life in Harlem. This work was followed in 1929 by Banjo. It portrayed the treatment of sub-Saharan African people by the French. The third and final novel, Banana Bottom, dealt with themes of cultural identity.
The short story collection, Gingertown, was published in 1932. It was followed by A Long Way from Home and My Green Hills of Jamaica (published posthumously). These were autobiographical works. A collection of his poetry was published after his death titled, ‘Selected Poems.’
McKay embraced Catholicism, and it caused him to see a fall in his reputation. However, it was around this time that he moved to Chicago to take a job as a teacher for a Catholic Youth organization.
Famous Poems
The most famous Claude McKay poems include:
- ‘After the Winter‘
- ‘America‘
- ‘Harlem Shadows‘
- ‘Enslaved‘
- ‘The Harlem Dancer‘
- ‘To Winter‘
- ‘The Spanish Needle‘
- ‘The Tropics in New York‘
- ‘The Snow Fairy‘
- ‘Summer Morn in New Hampshire‘
- ‘Subway Wind‘
- ‘If We Must Die‘
- ‘I Know My Soul‘
Death
McKay died in 1948 at the age of 57 of heart failure after going through a number of illnesses.
Influences on Other Poets
It is said that Claude McKay paved the way for many poets and influenced the likes of Langston Hughes, Richard Wright, and James Baldwin. Langston Hughes was alongside McKay in the Harlem Renaissance, and they used each others’ works as a source of inspiration, alongside Countee Cullen.
McKay was also influenced by the works of English poets John Keats and Percy Bysshe Shelley, as well as the African-American poet Paul Laurence Dunbar.
FAQs
Claude McKay was known for his influence during the 1920s Harlem Renaissance literary movement. His poetry focused on racial prejudice, socialism, segregation, and a number of other race issues.
The McKays were a well-respected family in the local religious church community of Sunny Ville. Claude was one of eleven children and one of only eight to survive to maturity.
In his early career, Claude McKay was considered to advocate communism, as he visited the Soviet Union and even met Leon Trotsky. However, after the 1930s, he gave up on communism and focused on civil rights and racial solidarity.
Claude McKay was a prolific poet and prose writer, incredibly publishing over 300 works during his career.
Claude McKay was originally born in Sunny Ville, Jamaica, and made the move to the United States in 1914. He made the move to New York City and was renowned for his love for travel. McKay lived in Europe and North Africa later in his life.
