Claude McKay (1889-1948) provided a wealth of information on the inspiration for his poetry in his 1918 autobiographical essay and “A Negro Poet Writes. and ” and “I am a black man who was born in Jamaica, B.W.I., and have spent the last few years residing in America. It was the first time I had ever encountered such overt, unyielding hatred of my species, and my emotions were beyond description. With broader, clearer eyes, I peered around me and noticed that cruelty existed everywhere in many forms. The same way that whites exploited and mistreated yellows and blacks, they also did the same to other white people. The downtrodden also displayed the same abhorrent hatred and brutality toward their less strong counterparts while writhing under the leash. I lost all thought.

Complete Poems Claude McKay: Songs of Jamaica (1912), Constab Ballads (1912), Spring in New Hampshire and Other Poems (1920), and Harlem Shadows (1922).

Complete Poems Claude McKay: Songs of Jamaica (1912), Constab Ballads (1912), Spring in New Hampshire and Other Poems (1920), and Harlem Shadows (1922). PDF

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