Claude McKay was born on September 15, 1890 in Jamaica. His parents, both farmers, sent him to live with his older brother, who was a teacher, so that he would receive the best education possible. McKay, the youngest of eleven children, began reading and writing by the time he reached ten years old, due in large part to his brother’s encouragement of McKay to use his library. He entered a trade school in 1906 and soon apprenticed with a cabinetmaker. Not long afterwards, McKay’s writing intrigued Walter Jekyll, a wealthy Englishman living in Jamaica who became a mentor, and like McKay’s brother, also encouraged the young man to write, especially in dialect.

McKay emigrated to the United States in 1912, and that same year published two collections of poetry, Songs of Jamaica and Constab Ballads. Settled in the Midwest, he enrolled in Tuskegee Institute and began studying agronomy, but soon transferred to Kansas State College. His early experiences with discrimination … [McKay wrote in primarily classical styles such as the sonnet] …and racism in the States influenced much of his writing. In 1914, McKay moved east to New York City and married Eulalie Imelda Lewars. Their marriage lasted only about a year, but produced a daughter born in 1915. McKay struggled to have his poetry published and was forced to work odd jobs to maintain his residence in the city, but in 1917 saw two sonnets printed in magazines under a pseudonym. His writing during that time, mostly eloquent observations and commentary on the social situation of African-Americans in the early twentieth century, has been considered a very strong influence on the Harlem Renaissance. McKay wrote in primarily classical styles such as the sonnet, but generated an appreciation for his art because of the short and direct language he used to realistically portray life in the American working class.

From 1919 to 1921 McKay, an active socialist, lived in England. He wrote for a socialist newspaper and wrote poetry, including the work published in 1922’s Harlem Shadows. He then traveled the world until 1934, stopping in countries throughout Europe and Africa, as well as Russia. His published writing during that time, mostly novels and collections of short stories, did not receive as much positive criticism that his early poetry had, and failed to support him financially in his travels. When he returned to the United States in 1934, he continued writing and publishing, but did not regain the fame his lyrical protests had brought him. A new member of the Catholic Church and suffering from heart conditions, McKay died on May 22, 1948, in Chicago.