The Poetry of Claude McKay: A pioneer of black poetry and a founder of the Harlem Renaissance

Festus Claudius McKay was born in Sunny Ville, Jamaica on the 15th September 1890, He was the youngest son to parents who had gathered enough assets to secure them the right to vote.
As a boy he was fascinated by English Poetry and literature, although at 17 he took on work as an apprentice woodcutter for two years before becoming a police constable in the capital, Kingston. In this mainly white and affluent town racism was rife and its nature awakened his political instincts and pursuit of social justice. He soon returned home and published his first two poetry collections in 1912.

By the early 1920’s he had travelled extensively across the United States and parts of Europe and was recognised as a very talented poet and an essential founding component of the Harlem Renaissance.

As well as poetry he also wrote several novels and was a dedicated activist for social reform.

By the late 1930s he had developed a deep interest in Catholicism and several years later moved to Chicago as a teacher for a Catholic organisation.

By the mid 1940’s several illnesses has further debilitated his health.

Claude McKay died of heart failure on the 22nd May 1948. He was 57.