Compare And Contrast Richmond Barthe And Claude Mckay

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Richmond Barthe and Claude Mckay

The Harlem Renaissance was a time of great change in the political, artistic, and literary world. With this great change came some prominent figures. Two of these were Richmond Barthe and Claude Mckay. Though these men were quite different in some regard they both did much good for civil and equal rights.

James Richmond Barthe was born in the small Mississippian city of Bay Saint Louis on January 28th of 1901. Richmond's Father; Richmond Barthe Sr. had died at the young age of 22 leaving his wife, now single mother; Marie Clementine to remarry to a man named William Franklin. When Barthe was young he gained an interest in the arts, eventually applying to and getting into the Art Institute of Chicago at the …show more content…

He started as a painter but got into sculpting at his professor's suggestion (Anderson et al). This small suggestion from his teacher was a big turning point in Barthe’s life as sculpting was what brought Barthe into the limelight. Barthe’s first famous sculpture was a bust of a celebrity at the time: Henry O. Tanner. After finishing his studies in Chicago, Barthe moved to New York City where his life got much busier. From 1928 to 1947 Barthe worked tirelessly creating busts and portraits of celebrities as well as some original pieces which include: The Blackberry Woman, Drum Major, Break Away, and The Deviled Crab Man(Richmond Barthe). Around this time Barthe was at the forefront of his fame and he began to make friends with other prominent figures from the Harlem Renaissance including Claude Mckay. But in 1947 Richmond left his life of luxury behind and moved to Jamaica where …show more content…

“When he was 17 he passed the Jamaican government’s trade scholarship examination and worked as an apprentice craftsman in St. Ann’s Parish” (Amardeep Singh). This was an extremely important part of Claude’s life as it allowed him to both gain experience in craftsmanship and to also meet his mentor Walter Jekyll, who helped Claude develop his love for literature - encouraged him to pursue his passion for writing and activism. In 1912, McKay moved to the United States, settling in Harlem, New York, and became a prominent figure in the Harlem Renaissance. He became an important voice in the movement when he published his first book of poetry, "Songs of Jamaica," in 1912. This poetry book was “dedicated to Sir Sydney Olivier, who was Governor of Jamaica at that time. The book of poetry expressed admiration for Olivier's “sympathy for the black race””(Contributors to Wikimedia projects) The book received admiration from Olivier and even received a Silver Musgrave Medal from the Institute of Jamaica further proving Claude's talent for writing. On top of writing poetry books, he also wrote several novels, including "Home to Harlem," which won the Harmon Gold Award for Literature in 1928. The book was also his most famous with many people today remembering him for