1. By Eric Worthey

2.  was born in Sunny Ville Jamaica, West Indies  Was the youngest of 11  Was sent to live and learn from his older brother, Uriah Theodore McKay by the age of 7  Developed a passion for poetry and songwriting by the age of ten  Moved to the U.S. in 1912 to pursue professional career and financial gains

3.  Wrote his first poem at ten years old  1906 McKay became apprenticed to Old Brenga (Walter Jekyll)  Started to embrace African American roots  Changed writing style to accommodate sit-ins and rallies

4.  attended Tuskegee Institute  Encountered extreme racism and switch to Kansas state University  W. E. B. Du Bois' “Souls of Black Folk”  In 1914 moved to New York and married Eulalie Lewars  Began to write for the NAACP and other civil rights groups  Began to have a national name as Civil rights Rep.

5.  McKay published two poems in 1917 in The Seven Arts under the pseudonym Eli Edwards  “If We Must Die” was published in 1922 in response to the “Red Summer”  The poem was reportedly later quoted by Winston Churchill during World War II.  founded the semi-secret revolutionary organization, the African Blood Brotherhood

6.  Formation of secret groups led to red scare among other activists  Moved to London in the fall of 1919  Became a military atheist  Was accused of joining communist groups due to well known hatred for American way of government  Becoming disillusioned with communism, McKay embraced the social teachings of the Roman Catholic Church, to which he converted in 1944. He died from a heart attack in Chicago at the age of 59.  He is regarded as the "foremost left-wing black intellectual of his age" and his work heavily influenced a generation of black authors

7.  Poetry  Constab Ballads (1912)  Harlem Shadows (1922)  Selected Poems (1953)  Songs of Jamaica (1912)  The Dialect Poetry of Claude McKay (1972)  The Passion of Claude McKay (1973)  Prose  A Long Way from Home (1937)  Harlem: Negro Metropolis (1940)  The Negroes in America (1979)  Letters  Banana Bottom (1933)  Banjo: A Story Without a Plot (1929)  Gingertown (1932)  Home to Harlem (1928)  My Green Hills of Jamaica (1979)  Trial By Lynching (1977)

8.  Claude McKay." : The Poetry Foundation. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Dec. 2013.  "Claude McKay." - Ask.com Encyclopedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 2 Dec. 2013..  "Claude McKay." Claude McKay. N.p., n.d. Web. 2 Dec. 2013. <http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9ZYGcTUh7g