Claude McKay

Claude McKay was often considered the first major poet of the Harlem Renaissance. Did more than any one else to develop trends to shape the movement. He was born September 15,1889 and died May 22, 1948. His poetry tackled subjects like bigotry and oppression. His works satisfied and inspired two major groups of black readers. His favorite poetic form of writing was the sonnet. I see why he went with the pen name of Claude McKay because his full name was Festus(?) Claudius McKay. He was the youngest of eleven children to Thomas and Ann Mckay, a Jamaican family. Thomas Mckay's father was a former slave so he tried to instilled in his children a suspicion of white people and he also tried to pass on to his children the customs and traditions of the Ashanti (West African tribe) from whom they are descended. With the help of Walter Jekyll, in 1912, McKay published 2 books of poetry, Songs of Jamaica and Constab Ballads. He received the medal of the Jamaican Institute of Arts and Sciences and a substantial cash award that he used to fund his education in America. He arrived at Tuskeegee Institute in 1912 but left 2 months after his arrival in frustration at the conditions there for blacks. He studied agricultural science at Kansas State College for 2 years before resuming his career as a writer. He left for Harlem. In Harlem he was befriended by famed poet Edwin Arlington Robinson and Jewish radical novelist and cultural critic Waldo Frank, two prominent white figures. Short story writer, Frank Harris also made an impression on McKay. His first break came in 1917 when Frank published two of his sonnets, The Harlem Dancer and Invocation in the Dec. issue of The Seven Arts. In 1919, he traveled to England where he met George Bernard Shaw. After his return to America in 1921, he contributed some works of his to Garvey's Negro World. In 1922 he published Harlem Shadows, which inaugarated the Harlem Renaissance. He stated that he created the book out of an urge to place the militant If We Must Die inside of a book. In 1928, his novel, Home to Harlem became a best seller (the first for an African American writer). This novel brought him into dispute with Dubois whom hated its depiction of the seedier side of Harlem. In 1934, he returned to Harlem after 12 years abroad in Europe and North Africa. McKay died in 1948. I enjoyed his works and creativity because he simply told the stories that no one else wanted to tell or deemed unsellable. McKay didn't care about selling copies, he remained true to his artistic self.