Claude McKay
Claude McKay was born in Jamaica, West Indies, in 1889. His older brother was the first one to educate him by reading him his collection of English novels, poetry, and scientific texts. McKay published his first book of poems, Songs of Jamaica, in 1909 even before he went to college. In 1912 he traveled to the United States from Jamaica. In college McKay studied agriculture at Tuskegee University, founded by Booker T. Washington. In 1917 he started publishing more poetry in the U.S. He wrote poetry on many topics such as Jamaica and love. Some of his famous poems were A Memory of June, A Prayer and A Red Flower. In the 1920’s McKay got interested in Communism. He went to Russia and France, but lost faith in communism so he went back to Harlem. He influenced a lot of poets and authors during the Harlem Renaissance and died in 1948.