Claude McKay (1890–1948)
Author of Home to Harlem
About the Author
Image credit: Photo by Carl Van Vechten. (Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division LC-USZ62-105919)
Works by Claude McKay
Harlem Dancer 2 copies
The White House [poem] 2 copies
“Old England” 1 copy
America 1 copy
Quasi blanca 1 copy
Un sacré bout de chemin 1 copy
Associated Works
The Making of a Poem: A Norton Anthology of Poetic Forms (2000) — Contributor — 1,471 copies, 9 reviews
Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama (1995) — Contributor, some editions — 1,013 copies, 7 reviews
American Poetry: The Twentieth Century, Volume One: Henry Adams to Dorothy Parker (2000) — Contributor — 479 copies, 1 review
Choice Cuts: A Savory Selection of Food Writing from Around the World and Throughout History (2002) — Contributor — 367 copies, 2 reviews
The Norton Anthology of African American Literature {2nd edition} (2003) — Contributor, some editions — 282 copies, 2 reviews
African American Poetry: 250 Years of Struggle and Song (2020) — Contributor — 235 copies, 4 reviews
World War I and America: Told by the Americans Who Lived It (1918) — Contributor — 225 copies, 1 review
From Totems to Hip-Hop: A Multicultural Anthology of Poetry Across the Americas 1900-2002 (2002) — Contributor — 182 copies
Let Nobody Turn Us Around: An African American Anthology (1999) — Contributor — 174 copies, 1 review
Black on White: Black Writers on What It Means to Be White (1998) — Contributor — 129 copies, 2 reviews
Calling the Wind: Twentieth Century African-American Short Stories (1992) — Contributor — 116 copies
In Search of Color Everywhere: A Collection of African-American Poetry (1994) — Contributor — 105 copies
The Penguin Book of Migration Literature: Departures, Arrivals, Generations, Returns (2019) — Contributor — 96 copies
The Heath Anthology of American Literature, Concise Edition (2003) — Contributor — 73 copies, 1 review
Poemhood: Our Black Revival: History, Folklore & the Black Experience: A Young Adult Poetry Anthology (2024) — Contributor — 58 copies, 2 reviews
Harlem Renaissance Novels: the Library of America Collection: (Two-volume boxed set) (2011) — Contributor — 55 copies, 1 review
A Way Out of No Way: Writing about Growing Up Black in America (1996) — Contributor — 34 copies, 2 reviews
Gender in Modernism: New Geographies, Complex Intersections (2007) — Contributor — 12 copies, 1 review
Another English: Anglophone Poems from Around the World (Poets in the World) (2014) — Contributor — 11 copies
The Ethnic Image in Modern American Literature, 1900-1950, Volumes 1-2 (1984) — Contributor — 1 copy
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Legal name
- McKay, Festus Claudius
- Other names
- Edwards, Eli
- Birthdate
- 1890-09-15
- Date of death
- 1948-05-22
- Gender
- male
- Education
- Tuskegee Institute
Kansas State University - Occupations
- poet
novelist
short story writer
editor - Organizations
- The Liberator (editor)
International Socialist Club
Rationalist Press Association
Workers' Socialist Federation
Workers' Dreadnought - Awards and honors
- James Weldon Johnson Literary Guild Award (1937)
Order of Jamaica (1977) - Relationships
- Bontemps, Arna (friend)
- Short biography
- Claude McKay (1889–1948), born Festus Claudius McKay, is widely regarded as one of the most important literary and political writers of the interwar period and the Harlem Renaissance. Born in Jamaica, he moved to the U.S. in 1912 to study at the Tuskegee Institute. In 1928, he published his most famous novel, Home to Harlem, which won the Harmon Gold Award for Literature. He also published two other novels, Banjo and Banana Bottom, as well as a collection of short stories, Gingertown, two autobiographical books, A Long Way from Home and My Green Hills of Jamaica, and a work of nonfiction, Harlem: Negro Metropolis. His Selected Poems was published posthumously, and in 1977 he was named the national poet of Jamaica.
- Nationality
- USA
Jamaica
British Empire - Birthplace
- Sunny Ville, Clarendon Parish, Jamaica, British West Indies
- Places of residence
- Jamaica, British West Indies
Chicago, Illinois, USA
New York, New York, USA
USSR
France
Spain (show all 8)
Morocco
London, England, UK - Place of death
- Chicago, Illinois, USA
- Burial location
- Calvary Cemetery, Woodside, New York, USA
Members
Reviews
I didn't really enjoy reading this book. But I loved it anyway. It felt more like a primary resource discovered in a dusty part of the smithsonian archive than it felt like a living novel. I can see why it stayed unpublished for many years. It's intellectually and ideologically complex, and it doesn't fit into any of the easy categories that were available to African American writers at the time (if they wanted to be published that is). I'm thinking for instance of Richard Wright's show more simplistic and polemical acceptance of communist thought in the last half of [b:Native Son|15622|Native Son|Richard Wright|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1440820866s/15622.jpg|3159084]. This book in contrast is self-critical and questioning and not at all simple. It mocks the attractions of communism as a possible way toward racial equality, but it is equally skeptical of other -isms. Because it is so much more a 'head' story than a 'heart' story it reminds me far more of Lionel Trilling's novel [b:The Middle of the Journey|544060|The Middle of the Journey|Lionel Trilling|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1320440371s/544060.jpg|391679] than of other Harlem Renaissance fiction--it's a novel of ideas, so much so that I could almost feel McKay debating between alternatives in his head as he wrote. Fascinating but not for the usual reasons. show less
“Theah’s life anywheres theah’s booze and jazz…”
Zeddy’s sage wisdom that he shares with Jake! They run around Harlem, chasing women and going to speakeasies and cabarets - drinking, gambling, and listening to jazz. Trying to find a woman to take care of them, both financial and physically. The story winds throughout Harlem, and a little aside on a train that Jake works on for a bit. It's a good story, and reminded me a lot of the "Beat" writing that came after. Glad I read it!
Zeddy’s sage wisdom that he shares with Jake! They run around Harlem, chasing women and going to speakeasies and cabarets - drinking, gambling, and listening to jazz. Trying to find a woman to take care of them, both financial and physically. The story winds throughout Harlem, and a little aside on a train that Jake works on for a bit. It's a good story, and reminded me a lot of the "Beat" writing that came after. Glad I read it!
In Harlem Shadows (published 1922), McKay captures his shock and disappointment at the discrimination he found in the United States. Racial identity is a key theme throughout the volume, and I found these themes hidden in many poems. He also wrote poems that encouraged people to be themselves, and his personal voice gives these poems an urgency. He also poignantly captures his homesickness for his tropical home. And although he wrote Harlem Shadows almost a century ago, his search for show more identity and place in a busy foreign world is one that we can still relate to.
I am a white woman and a stay-at-home mom living close to where I was born, and yet McKay’s racial frustrations and calls for individuals to remain strong, as well as his longings for the familiar, resonate with me. McKay’s beautiful poetry is well worth reading and revisiting.
More on my blog show less
I am a white woman and a stay-at-home mom living close to where I was born, and yet McKay’s racial frustrations and calls for individuals to remain strong, as well as his longings for the familiar, resonate with me. McKay’s beautiful poetry is well worth reading and revisiting.
More on my blog show less
This novel took me to another place, era and culture. The novel started off pretty slow, but I gave it a chance and I'm glad I did because it became engaging. I'm glad I discovered McKay. I'll be looking out for some of his other work.
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Statistics
- Works
- 31
- Also by
- 54
- Members
- 1,464
- Popularity
- #17,550
- Rating
- 3.9
- Reviews
- 8
- ISBNs
- 102
- Languages
- 1
- Favorited
- 2