Songs of Jamaica is the first book published by the African-Jamaican writer Claude McKay, which appeared in January 1912.
[1] The Institute of Jamaica awarded McKay the Silver Musgrave Medal for this book and a second volume, Constab Blues, also published in 1912.
He used the associated stipend to fund a trip to the United States of America.
The collection was the first book-length publication of poetry in Patois by an African-Caribbean writer, and contained footnotes and an introduction by Walter Jekyll to aid readers unfamiliar with the dialect.
[4] In 1906 Jekyll had published Jamaican Song and Story: Annancy Stories, Digging Sings, Ring Tunes, and Dancing Tunes which celebrated the presence of African cultural elements in Jamaican vernacular culture.