Also American

Person · 1889–1948

Claude McKay

The Jamaican-born poet and novelist whose "If We Must Die" became an anthem of Black resistance.

A militant voice of the [[harlem-renaissance]].

A militant early voice of the Renaissance, Claude McKay wrote the defiant sonnet "If We Must Die" during the 1919 Red Summer and the bestselling novel "Home to Harlem."

The Harlem RenaissanceLiterature

On the timeline

  1. July 1919
    Claude McKay's "If We Must Die"

    Published amid the Red Summer's racial violence, McKay's defiant sonnet becomes a touchstone of Black resistance poetry.

  2. 1928
    Claude McKay's "Home to Harlem"

    McKay's bestseller becomes one of the most widely read novels by a Black author to that date.

Resources