User talk:Dfheathe

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Claude McKay
Claudius Mckay, better known as Claude McKay, was born Festus Claudius Mckay. He was a Jamaican poet, novelist and journalist. He later moved to the U.S. where he became best associated with the Harlem Renaissance.

Mckay was born in 1890 in Clarendon Parish, Jamaica. He was the son of farmers, Thomas Francis McKay and Hannah Ann Elizabeth Edwards, and he was the youngest of 11 children. At the age of 7, McKay was sent to live with his oldest brother, a school teacher, to be given the best education available. While living with his oldest brother, Uriah Theodore, McKay became an avid reader and started writing poetry at the age of 10. While under his brother's teachings, McKay studied classical and British literary figures and philosophers as well as science and theology.

In 1906, Mckay became an apprentice to a carriage and cabinet maker known as "Old Brenga." He stayed in his apprenticeship for about 2 years. During that time, in 1907, McKay met a man named Walter Jekyll who became a mentor and an inspiration for him. He encouraged McKay to concentrate on his writing. Jekyll convinced McKay to write in his native dialect and even later set some of McKay's verses to music.

By 1912, McKay had written two volumes of poetry: Songs of Jamaica, a collection of 50 poems, and Constab Ballads, a collection of 28 poems. During this time, McKay also had poems published in two of Jamaica's major newspapers,the Daily Gleaner and the Jamaica Times. In 1912, McKay also immigtrated to the United States to attend Tuskegee College to study agriculture. It was here that McKay encountered the harsh realties of American racism, which formed the basis for his later writing. Mckay moved from south Carolina to attend Kansas State College in Manhattan,Kansas. He moved to New York City in 1914 with financial support from his early mentor, Jekyll.

McKay's most famous works include Home to Harlem (1928), Banjo, 1929, Bannana Bottom, 1933, A Long Way from Home, 1937 and Harlem:Negro Metropolis,1940.

Mckay suffered from high blood pressure and heart disease,which lead to a steady decline in his physical health. He eventually died from congestive heart failure in Chicago. He died in 1948. In 1953, his work, Selected Poemsand his second autobiography, My Green Hills of Jamaica (1979) were both published posthumously.

Sources:

Reuben, Paul P. "Chapter 9: Claude McKay " PAL: Perspectives in American Literature- A Research and Reference Guide. WWW URL: http://www.csustan.edu/english/reuben/pal/chap9/mckay.html

http://www.anb.org/articles/16/16-01105.html; American National Biography Online Feb. 2000. Access Date: Wed Mar 21 11:26:06 2001 Copyright (c) 2000 American Council of Learned Societies. Published by Oxford University Press.

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If you want to focus on just one aspect of this author try making a page about one of his novels or other works. Hlove7 (talk) 19:08, 23 March 2009 (UTC)

Evaluation of Content
This article offers substantial information regarding the inspiring background of Claude McKay. It serves the wikipedia database well by attempting to include many details of McKay's notable story. The fluidity of the text is what makes the article strong, however it could certainly use a bit of grammatical aid, as well as some structural organization. Not only do some simple typo's like "Mckay,""south Carolina," "ihs," and "immigtrated," bug readers, but they also jeopardize the credibility of the article.

As for the organization of the page, it would not hurt to create more categories, so that a reader could see the clearly defined sections of the article, and also would be able to click on a table of contents to be directed to the appropriate part of the article for a more efficient read. For example, it might be helpful to have an "Early Childhood," section, as well as an "Influence on the Harlem Renaissance" section, rather than having the entire article consist of one section with multiple paragraphs. Also, it would be appropriate to include more links to other wikipedia articles, as no words in the article link to any other page. For example, "Harlem Renaissance" would be a good term to have link to its respective wikipedia page. While the biography is well-written and accurate, there needs to be a more detail on McKay's life, and perhaps utilizing sources about the Harlem Renaissance would be a good starting point. Maybe looking through his volume of poetry, "Songs of Jamaica," would also offer some more insight into his life, and including an excerpt from one of these poems would be useful and interesting for readers. On this note, a picture would also be effective, and give the article a bit more authority, as it appears to be a good rough draft, but rather unrefined article that needs some fine-tuning. Chrisgerding (talk) 02:51, 25 March 2009 (UTC)

Evaluation Round 2- by Hillary
Positives: - the author used interesting stories and side notes to make the biography more intriguing - very positive start

Ideas/things to work on: - create categories so the article is easier to follow and easier for teh viewer to find what they might be looking for - biography information itself seems very surface level, maybe try adding to - grammatical errors, make sure you proof read before you actually launch your page into the wikipedia world - in order to be more credible, use in text citations so the reader can see exactly where you are getting your information AND because it will make your page look more like a wikipedia page - think the references to Harlem Renaissance" is interesting, but explain exactly how and why, give examples

In general, solid start just needs more detail and organization to create a more finished article! Heharper (talk) 02:54, 8 April 2009 (UTC)

Drew's Evaluation
Great start to a great article. One thing that may be helpful is to use section dividers to split the material up, as it is quite an eye sore at the moment. Also, you may want to delve into the impact of Mckay's efforts in the Harlem Renaissance, as that seems to be the focal point of his life and would probably warrant its own section. The biographical information, especially his early childhood is interesting and engaging. The sources seem fairly credible, but a couple more wouldn't hurt, especially if you further research the Harlem Renaissance angle. As was stated above, in line citations would add credibility to the article itself. Another thing to look into is a little information about those works for which he is famous for. Great start and there is lots of material out there for this to end up as a great article, keep up the good work! Tcandrew (talk) 04:00, 8 April 2009 (UTC)

Le's Evaluation
You have a lot of good information here regarding Claude McKay but I suggest that you organize it so that it would become easier to navigate through the Wikipedia page. For example, most articles on people on Wikipedia follow a similar type of layout in all of their pages. It would be easier to come up with a Table of Contents and in those sections have categories such as early life, early work/college/education, significant work and in this section describe his work a little bit or if there are any other relevant information would be good to put here as it describes what his work really meant. You also say that he is best know for his association with the Harlem Renaissance, I think that this should be in itself a separate category in this page and this seems to be the most important aspect of Claude McKay. The last section could be his death. In all I think that you are on the right track and everything should be more organized so that the material can be quickly found and read through. Most people want access to the material quickly so by dividing it up it would be perfect! Also maybe you could put up a picture of Claude McKay or any kind of media or the front cover of one of his work. Also make sure you proof read your article again since I found a few errors and mistakes. Crzle21 (talk) 21:34, 8 April 2009 (UTC)