Binary Bashers Ep. 1: Claude McKay - A Heart In Many Directions

Before there were words like "bi," "fluid," or "nonbinary," there were perspectives, lives, and art no mold could contain.

Episode 1 of Binary Bashers opens with Claude McKay (1889–1948), the Harlem Renaissance poet whose brilliance, rebellion, and contradictions still echo through Black, queer, and literary history in 2026. Known for his fierce critiques of racism and empire, McKay also lived a life shaped by desires and identities that society had no safe language for yet.

This episode explores the tension between visibility and survival: how a Black man, writing in an era of lynching, criminalization, and moral surveillance, carved out interior freedom while navigating public danger. Through narration, historical context, and careful archival research, Binary Bashers interprets McKay's own words, desires encrypted in verse, truths revealed obliquely in letters, as both survival strategy and creative act.

This episode was made with care. It's based on established scholarship and publicly available information from credible sources. If we've made an error, please let us know at ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://embracingallofme.org⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Embracing All of Me is a storytelling and advocacy platform for the multi, complex, and in-between, uplifting the voices of Bi+ people of color, our kin and friends. ⁠⁠⁠Visit our ⁠FAQs⁠ and ⁠Sources page⁠ to learn more about how this episode was developed.