Claude McKay (1889-1948)

Summary Label

Jamaican born poet influential in the Harlem Renaissance.

Title

Claude McKay (1889-1948)

Date of Birth

1889

Date of Death

1948

gender

Male

Hometown or Region

Jamaica

Freedom Status

Male

Occupation

Poet

Biography

Claude McKay was born in Sunny Ville, Jamaica, to a family of poor farmers. He began writing poetry at an early age, which caught the attention of the Jamaican Institute of Art and Sciences, who gave him award money which he used to move to America. He soon made his way to Harlem, where he started writing poetry again, which helped to kickstart the Harlem Renaissance. His poems were focused on the injustices of the black experience, though also focused on the strength of blackness. He then spent years traveling Europe and North Africa, staying a good deal of time in Paris (during which he also worked as an artist’s model), where he helped influence the burgeoning Négritude movement, alongside many other famous actors in the Harlem Renaissance. McKay had been an influence to many other writers that were also present in Paris, most notably Langston Hughes. After influencing and being influenced by black figures in Paris and around Europe and North Africa, he returned to Harlem, with three new novels having been written during his years abroad. In spite of his success, he was still burdened with money troubles, which would shape the rest of his life (though he would never stop writing). He would end up converting to Catholicism, which would soon shape the trajectory of his final movements. He became sick with dropsy, and moved to New Mexico to heal, and once he got better, he moved to Chicago (whose climate was detrimental to his health) to become a teacher with a Catholic organization. Chicago would be the last place he moved to, as once his health got worse again, he was admitted into a Chicago hospital, where he would die of congestive heart failure on May 22nd, 1948.

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Student Researcher

Elijah Cook