A photo from 1922 shows Jamaican-American writer and poet Claude McKay with fellow poet Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven in Greenwhich Village at a bohemian photo shoot. McKay was a key figure in the Harlem Renaissance years and wrote the notable novel called
Home to Harlem in 1928 which would describe the nightlife uptown in graphic detail for the first time. The book would become a best seller but some activist such as W.E.B. Du Bois thought the novel only had a negative portrayal of black culture. Other Harlem novels by Claude McKay included
Harlem: Negro Metropolis and
Harlem Shadows.
January 10, 1922. New York. "McRay and Baroness v. Freytag." George Grantham Bain Collection via Shorpy
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