How did claude mckay die
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Claude McKay
Claude McKay was born Festus Claudius McKay in Sunny Ville, Jamaica, on September 15, 1889. His parents, Thomas Francis and Hannah Ann Elizabeth (née Edwards), were poor farmers. McKay was educated by his older brother, Uriah Theodore “U’Theo” McKay, who was a teacher and possessed a library of English novels, poetry, and scientific texts. The clergyman, planter, and translator, Walter Jekyll, who mentored McKay, encouraged him to write verse in dialect. McKay left Sunny Ville for Brown’s Town when he was seventeen. There, he found work as a woodworker’s apprentice. McKay then moved to Kingston to work as a constable but returned to Sunny Ville due to experiencing rampant bigotry in Jamaica’s capital.
In 1912, McKay published his first book of verse in Kingston, titled Songs of Jamaica (A. W. Gardner & Co.), which recorded his impressions of Black life in Jamaica in dialect. His publication of the work earned him a grant from the Jamaican Institute of Arts and Sciences. McKay traveled to the United States and arrived in Charleston, Sout
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Claude McKay
Jamaican American writer and poet (1889–1948)
For the Australian journalist, see Claude Eric Fergusson McKay.
Festus Claudius "Claude" McKayOJ (September 15, 1890[1] – 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 political involvement. He moved to New York City in 1914 and, in 1919, he wrote "If We Must Die", one of his best known works, a widely reprinted sonnet responding to the wave of white-on-black race riots and lynchings following the conclusion of the First World War.
McKay also wrote five novels, Home to Harlem (1928), a best-seller that won the Harmon Gold Award for Literature, Banjo (1929), Banana Bottom (1933), Harlem Glory (written in 1938-1940, published in 1990), Amiable With Big Teeth: A Novel of the Love Affair Between the Communists and the Poor Black Sheep of Harlem (written in 194
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Claude McKay
(1889-1948)
Who Was Claude McKay?
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.
Early Life
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 producing poetry in his own Jamaican dialect.
Literary Career
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 (no
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