author
Perry Honce McGee
A little-known early 20th-century American poet, he is remembered for My Valued Ruby (1920), a self-published collection filled with love poems, reflections on Black life, and hopeful social vision. His work feels intimate and earnest, moving from family devotion to wider hopes for his community.
1 Audiobook
My Valued Ruby: Poems
by Perry Honce McGee
About the author
Perry Honce McGee was an early 20th-century American poet best known for My Valued Ruby: Poems, published in 1920 in Washington, Pennsylvania. The book appears to have been self-published, and surviving library and public-domain records suggest it is the main work by which he is known today.
The poems in My Valued Ruby are deeply personal. Many celebrate his wife, Ruby Montrose McGee, while others turn outward to questions of race, dignity, struggle, and hope. That mix gives his writing a warm, direct quality: affectionate at home, but also aware of the larger world and the future he wanted to see.
Although not much biographical detail is easily confirmed from major reference sources, McGee's poetry has endured through archival collections and digital libraries, where modern readers can still discover his voice. He stands out as a poet whose surviving work preserves both private feeling and a broader sense of purpose.