by Claude McKay

Bom in Jamaica in 1890, Claude McKay immigrated to America at the age of twentytwo to study scientific farming at Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. He transferred to Kansas State College before he left school altogether in 1914 and moved to New York. Settling in Harlem, McKay worked at menial jobs while writing poetry, as he had done before leaving Jamaica. He wrote colorfully about Harlem, describing its cabarets, jazz scene, and community life during the World War I era. In 1922 McKay left the United States, partly to escape "the suffocating ghetto of color consciousness" (Anderson, p. 221). He professed to have gained precious perspective on his experiences while abroad, which allowed him to do his best writing on Harlem. Written during this time, Home to Harlem draws on McKay's memories of the black American community.

Events in History at the Time the Novel Takes Place