Jamaican History, Man

Claude McKay was born Festus Claudius McKay in James Hill, Clarendon, Jamaica in September 14, 1889. He was the youngest child in a well-to-do family. When he was seven years old, Claude was sent to live with his older brother, where he received an excellent education due in part to the variety of reading materials his brother had to offer, including British literature and science texts books. By age ten, Claude was an active reader with a vivid imagination, fueled by his studies in philosophy and literature.

In 1906, Claude went to work as the apprentice of a cabinet maker. There he met Walter Jekyll, a man who encouraged McKay to focus on his writing. Jekyll eventually assisted McKay in publishing his first book of poems, entitled Songs of Jamaica, in 1912. It was Jekyll's inspiration that led McKay to publish the verses in his native Caribbean dialect. It was the first published work that employed Patios, an English derived dialect shaped by African structure.

Later that year, McKay published Constab Ballads, based on his experiences as a Jamaican police officer. That was also the year he left Jamaica for the United States, where he began studying at the Tuskegee Institute. It was in the United States, South Carolina specifically, that McKay first experienced what he referred to as a "semi-military, machinelike existence." He was horrified by the school's segregation and racist tendencies. McKay promptly left South Caroline to study at Kansas State University, where he read W.E.B. Du Bois's Souls of Black Folks, a book that greatly impacted McKay.

McKay left Kansas and moved to New York City, where in 1919 he got involved with The Liberator, a socialist publication that featured poetry, fiction, and heavy politics. It was in The Liberator that McKay published his most noteworthy and recognizable poem, If We Must Die.

McKay is considered Jamaica's Poet Laureate, due mainly to revolutionary works like "If We Must Die"

McKay was considered one of the preeminent figures of the Harlem Renaissance, a surge of African American artist, political and intellectual expression that began and New York City but affected people all over the world. McKay's works about his Jamaican homeland, words written and love and exile, were considered revolutionary. He advocated civil rights and equality, and his dedication led to the expansion and interest taken in the progression of African Americans.

It was McKay's Jamaican upbringing, stemming from the Caribbean ancestry and continued through his American education all the way to the Harlem Renaissance. McKay paved the way for many other artisans and intellectuals, as well as less capable African Americans to strive for education; to seek progress and equality. He was part of the New Negro Movement, and his contributions should be noted and appreciated.