"The Lynching" by Claude McKay and African American Communities

The 1920s intellectual life flourished with the African American communities in the US and their representation in literary texts. With the return to historical events such as the oppression of black people or post-slavery events, the literature focuses on significant events in the history of the black community.

Some people thought they would free themselves by fleeing the slavery that the South imposed upon them and migrating to the North. The poetry from the Harlem Renaissance reflects the diversity of forms and subjects that the historical context provides.

The poets picture the racial treatment the black people endured in the Nation during this time.

This is also the case with Claude McKay's sonnet 'The Lynching'. Indeed, the poet brings the readers into a horrifying but truthful death of an African man who suffers from the brutality of the American lynchers. By using specific imageries, the theme of dehumanization, and transformations of the poetic form, McKay exposes the social violence made against the African people in the United States.

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Thereby, he denounces the bad treatment and the injustice they faced without any compassion from other citizens.

The lynching of a black man in the United States once was a violent act of mob rule or vigilantism. It is a form of extrajudicial punishment or social control that originated in the American South in the 19th century. The lynching of African Americans took place across the country from the 1820s to the 1960s, although the most significant number of lynchings occurred in the Southern states.

References

• Harlem Renaissance - Definition, Artists & Impact | HISTORY
• The Long-Lasting Legacy of the Great Migration | History|
  Smithsonian Magazine