Claude McKay published his poem “The White House” in 1922. It appeared alongside three other poems in a collection titled “Spring Sonnets,” published in The Liberator, an American communist magazine. The poem utilizes the sonnet form which, ironically, is traditionally associated with expressions of love. McKay repurposes this form to express his anger toward the white suprematism in America. According to McKay, his “Spring Sonnets” were composed specifically for expressing a mixture of emotions, his "bitterness, hate, and love.” By publishing “The White House” alongside other sonnets, McKay challenged and complicated the traditional sonnet form to include not only love and celebration, but bitterness and hatred toward racism.
Just three years later the poem would be among three of McKay's poems to be republished in a special edition of another periodical, Survey, under the guest editorship of Alain Locke. Locke exceeded his editorial duty by unilaterally deciding to retitle the poem “White Houses.” This decision was made out of concern that some readers might interpret McKay's verse as rage specifically directed at the official residence of the president. Locke acted out of concern for McKay himself, who was born in Jamaica and was traveling abroad during the publication process. Locke feared that the United States government might attempt to prevent Locke from entering the country if he was perceived as criticizing the president. In fact, the FBI had attempted to prevent McKay from returning to the United States two years earlier. Thus, the publication history of the poem itself reveals the racism and oppression that McKay describes in the poem—the government could weaponize its powers under the guise of national security to punish McKay for publishing subversive ideas, which prompted Locke to change the title out of caution.
In his 1937 autobiography, A Long Way From Home, McKay would definitively set the record straight by affirming that the title was always meant to be symbolic and not literal. As for Locke's title change, McKay complained that it undermined “the whole symbolic intent and meaning of the poem,” by removing the key White House symbol. By changing the title, McKay stated, Locke had distorted the poem’s critique of American industry and society by overemphasizing the idea that the speaker desired to enter a particular, concrete home. McKay wanted the title changed back to “The White House” even if it meant his exclusion from the United States. While Locke proceeded with the changed title, subsequent editions have included the original title. This editorial battle demonstrates the critical symbolic importance of the title to the poem, as well as the challenges that McKay faced as a Black author critical of the United States in the 1920s.
