Claude McKay
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| (1889-1946) |
Claude was known as “The Bad Boy” of the Harlem Renaissance (Wintz, 99). Claude McKay was born in SunnyValle, Jamaica in 1890. He was introduced to the world of literature by his older brother who was a teacher. He moved to the United States in hopes of receiving a college education. Although he enrolled at Tuskegee University and Kansas State University, he never received a degree. For a few years Claude wandered the country doing odd and end jobs. He eventually decided to try his luck in New York City.
During the terrible year of 1919, race riots between Blacks and Whites broke out throughout the country. Many African Americans were killed. That same year, Claude McKay penned one of his most famous poems. The poem was entitled, “If We Must Die”. This poem symbolized the need for equality amongst the human race, not just among blacks and whites. For many years, people thought that Claude was a white poet because his poems were so race conscious. But with the publication of “If We Must Die”, it revealed that he was indeed an African American. This speculation made McKay a militant amongst the whites and a pioneer for The Harlem Renaissance amongst the blacks. By using his Jamaican dialect in many of his poems, Claude continued to attract some white readers to his work.
Unsatisfied with the race relations in America, Claude McKay decided to travel to the Soviet Union to explore how blacks were being treated there. In his mind he believed that communism may be the answer to solve the racial tensions back in the states. Although McKay was treated amicably, he realized that communism was not the solution to the problems that were going on in the United States. After leaving the Soviet Union, McKay continued to travel around Europe for a few more years.
Claude McKay would eventually return to the US in the late 1920s. For awhile, McKay had given up on writing as he focused more on his health. When he returned to the United States, he continued writing and eventually wrote the novel “Home to Harlem”. This publication would become the first best seller written by a Harlem Renaissance author. The story depict ted the life of a common African American man. McKay received mixed reviews from the African American community because they thought that McKay should have written about the man in a more positive light. The things that bothered people the most was how Claude made in fun of the whites way of life. Many African Americans were striving to attain this particular lifestyle so they found his thoughts insulting. Claude McKay concluded that this was the real life of African Americans during that time and if they did not like how they were being portrayed then they should do something about it and not blame him.
Claude McKay spent his last years in Chicago as a personal advisor on communism to Bishop Shaw, who was the archdiocese of Chicago. He died of a heart attack in 1948.
People either loved or hated Claude McKay. There was never really an in between. But many cannot dispute the fact that his left-wing views about the state of America opened up a lot of doors for the New Negro Movement. His writings centered on rediscovery of the black race and its African heritage. Today, this is something that many cultures, not only African Americans are thankful for.
Countee Cullen
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| (1903-1946) |
Countee Cullen was born Countee Porter in New York City on May 30, 1903. The details about his biological parents remain unknown. He was raised by his maternal grandmother until the age of 15 when he was adopted by the Reverend and Mrs. Frederick Ashbury Cullen. He was a very smart young man and excelled in all subjects in school. He attended New York University where his poetry was published in many literary magazines.
In 1925, Cullen’s received a book deal with Harper to publish his first book of poems. His first book was entitled, “Colors”. During this time he graduated from New York University and got accepted into Harvard to continue his master studies. While in Harvard, Countee landed a job as the assistant editor to the Opportunity Magazine. He also was well known for a column that he published known as “The Dark Tower”.
Countee Cullen’s style was based on European Classic poetry traditions. He believed that “Black Americans are, first and foremost, inheritors of the country’s Anglo-American cultural heritage, not exotic outsiders or newcomers” (Wintz, 75). Many participants of the Harlem Renaissance did not feel the same way. But either way, Countee Cullen still earned respect.
Throughout most of his career, Cullen fought with the idea that he just wanted to be known as a poet. He found it asinine that people had to identify him by the color of his skin. During his career many of his poems such as “Heritage” and “Incident” dwelled on this perception.
Countee married Nina Yolande Du Bois, W.E.B. Du Bois’ only daughter in 1928. Although this was the biggest social event during this time, their marriage lasted less than a year.
For the rest of his career, Countee Cullen continued to write poems and publish books. He even remarried in 1940. This marriage was much more successful than his first. Countee Cullen died at the young age of 42 from high blood pressure and uremia. He passed away just a couple of months before his musical, St. Louis Woman, was set to be released on Broadway.
Throughout his short but yet meaningful life, Countee wanted his poetry to express beauty and truth. To this day, many feel that he was triumphant in this goal. His poems made African Americans realize that they were worth more than many believed that they were. And this is only one of the reasons Countee Cullen is known as one of the greatest writers of the Harlem Renaissance.
Langston Hughes
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| (1902-1967) |
Langston Hughes was born in Mississippi in 1902. When he was two, his parents divorced and he lived with his grandmother until her death. Under her care, she introduced Langston to the stories of Sojourner Truth and Paul Laurence Dunbar. He also began reading the Crisis magazine for the first time. He fell in love with the literature world.
On a trip to Mexico to visit his father, Langston wrote The Negro Speaks of the Rivers, a poem about the Mississippi River and the blacks in the south. He submitted the poem to the Crisis and it was published in 1921.
At the urging of his father, Langston pursued a degree in engineering from Columbia University. Langston soon lost interest. He left school and traveled the world as a steward on a ship before returning back to New York in 1924.
When he returned to New York, his eyes were open to a whole new world. The Harlem Renaissance was at is prime. Langston loved the sounds of African and jazz music. He was the first poet to try and incorporate these sounds into his poems.
A year later Hughes won first prize in a poetry contest run by the Opportunity magazine. The winning poem, The Weary Blues, would later become the title of Langston’s first published collection of poetry.
Eventually Langston would receive a scholarship to attend Lincoln University in Pennsylvania. This time, Langston obtained an undergraduate degree. He gradated in 1929. While in school, Langston wrote one of his most famous poems, The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain. This poem was in respond to a poem that claimed African Americans did not have their own unique culture and they copied that of the whites.
Langston completely disagreed. He believed that African Americans should stop trying to fit into white mainstream America and embrace who they were as a people. They should express their unique culture through music and art.
Although just about everyone grew to love Langston Hughes, some had mixed feelings about his beliefs. But a majority felt the same way that he did about race issues. Some of these “radical” writers got together to create Fire, a magazine that was geared toward the younger generation. Unfortunately the African American elite frowned upon this publication and it folded after just one issue.
With the Great Depression settling in, Langston found financial comfort in a white woman, Charlotte Osgood Mason. She supplied money to other artists such as Zora Neale Hurston and Alain Locke. Hughes eventually ended the relationship because Mrs. Mason was too domineering and wanted control over his work. It also ended his friendship with Hurston. She dejected his friendship in order to keep receiving money from Mrs. Mason.
Hughes would eventually travel to the Soviet Union. His poems during this period were dark and reflected his disapproval for the capitalist country of the Unites States. He eventually turned to playwriting. One of his most famous play is Mulatto. It centers around miscegenation and was the longest running play on Broadway written by an African American.
Langston Hughes never married or had any children. He died in 1967 of cancer. His works ranged from simple poems to thought provoking plays. For many, Langston Hughes is known as the poet laureate of the Renaissance. He was proud of being an African Americana and wanted his people to feel the same sense of pride when they read his work. The New Negro Movement was about exploring the African American culture and Langston Hughes followed suit. His literately masterpieces are still enjoyed to this day.
The Weary Blues
The Negro Speaks of Rivers
