Claude McKay
Embodiment of the Black Diaspora
Claude McKay, born September 15th, 1889 in Sunny Ville, Jamaica. Born to farmers, McKay was raised poor, but was able to get ahead through his affinity for poetry. With award money given to him by the Jamaican Institute of Art and Sciences, he was able to travel to the United States. With the original intent of furthering his education, he originally headed to a couple universities, but soon found that college wasn't for him. He moved to New York City, where, while working odd jobs, began to write poetry again, and helped to influence the burgeoning Harlem Renaissance.
Early Life
Sunny Ville, Jamaica (1889)
Sunny Ville, Jamaica (1889). Click to expand.
The birthplace of Claude McKay, a community predominantly comprised of black farmers.
Kingston, Jamaica (1910)
Kingston, Jamaica (1910). Click to expand.
Jamaica in the late 19th century still clung to views based in slavery, seeing the white man as superior to the black man, even though the white population on the island was far smaller.
Tuskegee Institute, Alabama (1912)
Tuskegee Institute, Alabama (1912). Click to expand.
While McKay entered the United States through South Carolina, he very quickly made it to Tuskegee. The most prolific college for black men in America and home to Booker T. Washington, it was the natural choice for an education for McKay.
Kansas State College, Kansas (1912)
Kansas State College, Kansas (1912). Click to expand.
While not as obvious a choice after Tuskegee, Kansas State is where McKay transferred to. He tried for two more years to go down the route of an education, but eventually decided to drop out. Whether this is due in part to how racist Kansas was at the time isn't exactly known, but wouldn't be surprising.
New York City, New York (1914)
New York City, New York (1914). Click to expand.
After his time in the education system, McKay moved to New York City in 1914, working odd jobs to make ends meet while he found his footing. Unfortunately, the city he entered was like many metropolitan centers, incredibly racist. He quickly rediscovered the disdain for city life he had found in Kingston, though it did once again kindle his writing.
The Harlem Renaissance (1918-1937)
The Harlem Renaissance was only just beginning to stir when McKay entered New York City, and was a black cultural boom. Kick-started by the end of World War I and the economic boom that followed, it became a period that allowed black culture to flourish. Blackness became something to celebrate, and this shift in thought also caused a lot of social movements at the time. While the movement covered everything from music to art, McKay was one of its earliest and best writers, and inspired other great writers like Langston Hughes (another huge writer from the Harlem Renaissance), Zora Neale Hurston, and James Weldon Johnson.
In order left to right, descending: Billie Holiday (middle), Ben Webster (left), and Johnny Russell (right), Duke Ellington and band, the 306 Workshop Group, Langston Hughes, Charles S. Johnson, E. Franklin Frazier, Rudolph Fisher, and Hubert T. Delany, and Louis Armstrong
Many pictured above are major artists from the Harlem Renaissance, for example: Billie Holiday is one of the time period's most famous singers, Duke Ellington also holds a similar honor as one of the period's best and most famous pianists, the 306 Workshop Group was a famous artist collective based in Harlem that included Robert Blackburn, and Louis Armstrong was another incredibly famous and talented musician, also known to sing with another prominent member of the Harlem Renaissance, Ella Fitzgerald.
European Tour
01 / 04
Works Made
During his tour of Europe and North Africa, McKay didn't put down the pen, writing a short story collection: Gingertown, and three novels: Home to Harlem, Banjo: A Story Without a Plot, and Banana Bottom. These are some of his most important novels (Banana Bottom in particular being hailed as one of his best outright), and gave a deeper look into the character of McKay. These works were a way for McKay to express himself, and not just his emotions, beliefs, or nostalgia, but also his sexuality. The title character in Banjo was described as gay (even having a partner in France, where McKay lived for many years), and this is believed to be an autobiographical peek at McKay's own orientation, though he never fully came out. Jamaica was also a large presence in all these works, as it was in many works throughout McKay's life, as he never seemed to lose his love of his birthplace, though he also never returned.
Late Life
Harlem (1934)
Harlem (1934). Click to expand.
Returning to Harlem after over a decade abroad, he found himself embroiled once again in the Harlem Renaissance, which, by the 1930s, was nearing its end. McKay published a book during this time focused on the black experience in Harlem, even after spending so much time away, he ended up bringing a unique and worldly perspective to the time period.
Albuquerque (1946)
Albuquerque (1946). Click to expand.
With his newfound case of dropsy, McKay traveled to Albuquerque, New Mexico (as many sick people before him had), hoping the fresh mountain air would help his health.
Chicago (1948)
Chicago (1948). Click to expand.
The final stop on Claude McKay's journey.
The Effects of Claude McKay
McKay's work had a profound impact on the progress of civil rights in the early 20th century. He was a staunch civil rights activist throughout his life, writing for many activist newspapers and magazines, even publishing novels depicting the black experience and history to give a different outlook than white historians. His works were powerful, uniting, and progressive, and many of the works his publishers deemed "unusable" have been rediscovered, painting an even more detailed picture of how ahead of his time he was (for example: Romance in Marseille, only now published in 2020, which explored the queer identity in such a hateful period). He never stopped writing, even though he never saw much money, and seemed to be constantly hit with poor health. His work inspired not only others in the Harlem Renaissance, but writers across the world, helping to spread the idea that blackness was something to be celebrated globally.
Bibliography
Kaiama L. Glover, Alex Gil, In The Same Boats, https://sameboats.org/#/ (December 8, 2024)
One of the most useful resources for this project, gives locations and dates for everywhere Claude McKay went, and a very interesting look for anyone interested.
Claude McKay, Songs of Jamaica, (Miami, Mnemosyne, 1969).
Wayne F. Cooper, Claude McKay: Rebel Sojourner in the Harlem Renaissance : a Biography, (Baton Rouge, Louisiana State University Press, 1987).
Claude McKay, Harlem: Negro Metropolis, (New York, E.P. Dutton & Company, 1940).
Ernest Julius Mitchell II, “"Black Renaissance": A Brief History of the Concept,” Amerikastudien, Vol. 55, No. 4, (2010).
Gilbert Osofsky, “Symbols of the Jazz Age: The New Negro and Harlem Discovered,” American Quarterly, Vol. 17, No. 2, (Summer 1965), pp. 229-238.
Tyler Stovall, Paris Noir: African Americans in the City of Light, (Boston, Houghton Mifflin Company, 1996).
Anne Donlon, ““A Black Man Replies”: Claude McKay’s Challenge to the British Left,” Lateral, Vol. 5.1, (Spring 2016).
Claude McKay, The Negroes in America, (Port Washington, Kennikat Press, 1979).
Michael Hatt, “Sculpting and Lynching: The Making and Unmaking of the Black Citizen in Late Nineteenth-Century America,” Oxford Art Journal, Vol. 24, No. 1, (2001), pp. 1-22.
Graeme Abernethy, ""The Beauty of Other Horizons": Sartorial Self-Fashioning in Claude McKay's "Banjo: A Story without a Plot,"" Journal of American Studies, Vol. 48, No. 2 (May 2014), pp. 445-460
