Page 34 - Black History Poems-1
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CLAUDE MCKAY
Festus Claudius McKay was born in Sunny Ville,
Clarendon Parish, Jamaica, (September 15,
1889—May 22, 1948), His mother and father
spoke proudly of their respective Malagasy and
Ashanti heritage. McKay blended his African pride
with his love of British poetry. He studied poetry
and philosophy with Englishman Walter Jekyll,
who encouraged the young man to begin produc-
ing poetry in his own Jamaican dialect.
