Quick Facts
- NAME: Claude McKay
- OCCUPATION: Children's Activist, Civil Rights Activist, Author, Poet
- BIRTH DATE: c. September 15, 1890
- DEATH DATE: May 22, 1948
- EDUCATION: Tuskegee Institute, Kansas State Teachers College
- PLACE OF BIRTH: Jamaica
- PLACE OF DEATH: Chicago, Illinois
- Originally: Festus Claudius McKay
- AKA: Eli Edwards
Best Known For
Claude McKay was a Jamaican-born poet and novelist whose Home to Harlem (1928) was the most popular novel written by an American black to that time.
Quiz
Think you know about Biography?
Answer questions and see how you rank against other players.
Play NowClaude McKay. (2013). The Biography Channel website. Retrieved 02:04, May 19, 2013, from http://www.biography.com/people/claude-mckay-9392654.
Claude McKay. [Internet]. 2013. The Biography Channel website. Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/claude-mckay-9392654 [Accessed 19 May 2013].
"Claude McKay." 2013. The Biography Channel website. May 19 2013, 02:04 http://www.biography.com/people/claude-mckay-9392654.
"Claude McKay," The Biography Channel website, 2013, http://www.biography.com/people/claude-mckay-9392654 [accessed May 19, 2013].
"Claude McKay," The Biography Channel website, http://www.biography.com/people/claude-mckay-9392654 (accessed May 19, 2013).
Claude McKay [Internet]. The Biography Channel website; 2013 [cited 2013 May 19] Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/claude-mckay-9392654.
Claude McKay, http://www.biography.com/people/claude-mckay-9392654 (last visited May 19, 2013).
Claude McKay. The Biography Channel website. 2013. Available at: http://www.biography.com/people/claude-mckay-9392654. Accessed May 19, 2013.
Profile
Claude McKay was born Sept. 15, 1890, in Jamaica. Before going to the U.S. in 1912, he wrote two volumes of Jamaican dialect verse. McKay went to New York in 1914, where he contributed regularly to The Liberator, then a leading journal of avant-garde politics and art. With the publication of two volumes of poetry, McKay emerged as the first and most militant voice of the Harlem Renaissance.
© 2013 A+E Networks. All rights reserved.
Profile Connections
Included In These Groups
-
Famous Black Writers
View groupThey are the famous African-American writers who have fearlessly examined cultural stigmas, provided intimate life details, presented new ideas and created remarkable fiction through literary works. For their prophetic genius, these men and women have received Pulitzer Prizes, NAACP awards and even Nobel Prizes, among other honors. Our list of prominent African-American authors includes Toni Morrison, who has detailed the lives of black characters who struggle with identity amidst racism and hostility; Langston Hughes, a founder of the Harlem Renaissance; and Maya Angelou, who has eloquently chronicled various eras of her life through her autobiographies.
Famous Black Writers 38 people in this group
-
Famous Virgoans
View groupMichael Jackson is one, so is Stephen King and Greta Garbo. Some say typical traits of Virgoans are helpful, critical, shy, and meticulous. Meet some famous people who share the astrological sign Virgo.
Famous Virgoans 561 people in this group
-
Famous Black Activists
View groupAfrican-Americans have a long history of activism in America, from fighting for the right to vote to pushing for integrated public spaces. Activists like Stokely Carmichael organized freedom rides, James Meredith fought to integrate blacks and whites at the University of Mississippi, and Rosa Parks instigated the Montgomery Bus Boycott. These protests were often legal and nonviolent, and made a powerful impact on civil rights in the United States. With the help of activists like these—and many others—the country slowly worked to acknowledge the basic rights and contributions of African-Americans. Activists outisde of the U.S. include Desmond Tutu and Nelson Mandela, who have fought against apartheid in South Africa. Learn more about the many black activists who fought against the odds in order to achieve equality.
Famous Black Activists 133 people in this group
profile name: Claude McKay profile occupation:
Your Connections
Sign in with Facebook to see how you and your friends are connected to famous icons.

June Carter Cash
Famous Fiction Authors
Angelina Jolie
My Ghost Story
I Survived
Babe Ruth
Johnny Cash
Georgia O'Keefe
I Survived


