Claude McKay, originally named Festus Claudius McKay, was born in Sunny Ville, Jamaica, in 1889. A prominent figure in the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s, he produced a diverse body of work that spanned vernacular poetry celebrating Jamaican peasant life to prose that critiqued racial and economic injustices. His fiction, exploring themes of identity and existence amidst racism, often reflects the duality of instinct and intellect essential to the Black experience. Notable publications include The Passion of Claude McKay: Selected Poetry and Prose (1973), Harlem Shadows (1922), and Constab Ballads (1912).

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McKay was the son of peasant farmers and took pride in his African heritage. After being influenced by his brother Uriah Theophilus McKay and neighbor Walter Jekyll, he studied English poetry and European philosophy. Jekyll encouraged McKay to write in Jamaican dialect, which later became a hallmark of his work.

At 17, McKay left Sunny Ville to apprentice as a woodworker in Brown’s Town but soon moved to Kingston, where he faced rampant racism. Disgusted by the city’s prejudiced attitudes and having experienced significant social inequities, he returned to Sunny Ville within a year.

During his time in Brown’s Town and Kingston, McKay honed his poetry. He published Songs of Jamaica and Constab Ballads in London in 1912. Songs of Jamaica paints an idealized picture of rural life, while Constab Ballads offers a stark commentary on societal issues in Kingston. For his work, McKay received accolades from the Jamaican Institute of Arts and Sciences, financing his trip to America.

McKay arrived in the United States in 1912, eventually studying at Tuskegee Institute before moving to New York City, where he faced additional racism. His writing flourished, and under the pseudonym Eli Edwards, he published poems in various literary journals. Among them was “If We Must Die,” which emerged as a powerful statement on Black resistance and garnered significant attention.

McKay’s travels abroad from 1919 to 1921 included time in Holland, Belgium, and London, during which he produced his third poetry collection, Spring in New Hampshire, featuring the notable poem