It might be assumed that the Harlem Renaissance is among the brightest and noticeable movements of the first half of the 20th century. It emphasizes the peculiarities and struggles of African American culture that are vital to know and understand to gain an in-depth comprehension of the phenomenon. Claude McKay, being among the most prominent representatives of the period, had a high impact on this movement. Below, the influence of Claude McKay on the Harlem Renaissance, as well as the essence of African American culture of the time, will be discussed.
The Harlem Renaissance might be defined as a movement in the US between 1920-1930, which was governed by a significant number of African American writers and artists. It seems reasonable to state that the Renaissance is a period of cultural development that reflects changes that took place during the transition to the New Age. The Harlem Renaissance obtained its name due to the following two facts. First, the center of this movement appeared in Harlem – one of the districts of New York – in which many African Americans lived. Second, at this time, African American culture was at the highest point of its process of prosperity (Pierceson 184). It provided this world with plenty of genuinely talented writers such as Claude Mackay. The Harlem Renaissance had a substantial influence on the culture of the US. During the period, a new impression of African Americans took shape. They started to be perceived as educated, talented, and gifted persons. The movement served as an essential prerequisite for the future struggles of the African American population that aimed to establish and protect their fundamental rights.
Claude Mackay was born in Jamaica in 1889, was educated in Tuskegee Institute and Kansas State University, and in 1914 moved to Harlem, where he took up journalistic work (Graham 6). He collaborated with magazines The Crisis, The Masses, and The Seven Arts; he often visited Germany and France. McKay showed a keen interest in the art of the ancestors – the culture of the black diaspora. He believed that Negro literature should not seek to satisfy the needs of whites – it could be self-contained and genuinely original. Already in the early 20s, Claude Mackay became known as a brilliant poet: he released collections of Songs of Jamaica and Harlem Shadows.
In the first collection, Mackay uses the rural dialect of Jamaica, draws pastoral paintings, the life of peasants. The second one depicts colorful sketches of the life of the city ghetto; here, the world of the new black man is recreated, filled with racial pride and inner freedom. The city attracts and frightens McKay: he admires Harlem as the center of vital energy, its hectic pace of life, and vivid characters among urban residents. At the same time, the poet, who grew up in the province, is repelled by dirt, noise, a big city, vices, and aggression, literally spilling into the air of a megalopolis. The described writings reveal the nature and spirit of the Harlem Renaissance, contributing to creating the image of intelligence and the importance of the movement.
In the novel Home to Harlem, Mackay paints the character of an exotic primitive; his hero is a child of nature, a real bunch of vital energy, indomitable temperament, impulsive, and passionate. The novel about the savage in the urban jungle provoked some sharply negative assessments. Renaissance figures who saw the future of the black race in America in connection with a European education, democratic values, and same accession to American society did not like Home to Harlem. Nevertheless, a plethora of the representatives of the Harlem Renaissance took Mackay’s book as an affirmation of racial identity (Ramesh and Rani 110–111). Then, Ramesh and Rani argue, “The repressed Afro-America … found a fresh and strong militant voice in McKay. He was … hailed as the black people’s poet and announced as a harbinger of the … movement” (20). It seems rational to emphasize that McKay was considered as a symbol by a large part of the Harlem Renaissance representatives.
McKay – so as the other movement members – believed in democracy and the possibility of its consistent implementation. They aspired to use the power of art and literature to put an impact on white people who were oppressing them. African Americans strived to prove to everyone that they had a bright and prosperous future. Nevertheless, the Harlem Renaissance broke off abruptly due to the dire consequences of the Great Depression. African Americans were not utterly ready for such circumstances and, at the first turn, had to focus on the development of their own culture.
In conclusion, it should be claimed that the Harlem Renaissance played a substantial role in the prosperity of African American culture. Claude McKay made a substantial contribution to the process of promotion of this culture, as well as was perceived as one of the symbols of the period. His works pursued the goal of establishing a good reputation of African Americans and bringing the original image of them to the white people who did not want to provide the black population with deserved rights.
Works Cited
Graham, Craig Barnes. The “New York State of Mind” of Claude McKay: A Literary Biography of a Caribbean Writer’s Contribution to the Harlem Renaissance and the Creation of the Harlem Renaissance and the Creation of the New Negro. 2017. Ph.D. dissertation. ProQuest Dissertations and Theses.
Pierceson, Jason. LGBTQ Americans in the U.S. Political System: An Encyclopedia of Activists, Voters, Candidates, and Officeholders. ABC-CLIO. 2019.
Ramesh, Kotti Sree and Kandula Nirupa Rani. Claude McKay: The Literary Identity From Jamaica to Harlem and Beyond. McFarland, 2006.