Countee Cullen (1903-1946) (born Countee Lee Porter) was probably born in Louisville, Kentucky, although Cullen was known to confuse his associates with tales of being born in Baltimore, MD., or New York City. Most have settled on the idea that he was born in Kentucky. His young life was filled with tragedy. His mother died when he was still a young boy. He was then entrusted to a woman who is believed to be his grandmother, who took him to Harlem to live. She died in 1918, when Cullen was just 15. He was taken in by the Rev. F. A. Cullen and his wife. He was never officially adopted by the Rev. and Mrs. Cullen, but, he eventually took on their last name. Although he was one of the few Blacks at his high school, he became very active, becoming known for his poetry and for being inducted into his school’s honor society.
He attended New York University (NYU) and was editor of The Arch, the school newspaper. One of his most notable works, Color (1925), was published during his senior year. The book dealt with race, and was ushered in with concern from his critics. His second book, Copper Sun (1927) was less about race and more concerned with life and love. He graduated from Harvard University in 1927. From that time until 1928, he worked as associate editor of the magazine Opportunity. He was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship, which allowed him to study abroad. Before leaving for Europe, he married Nina Yolande Du Bois, daughter to W.E.B. DuBois. That union lasted less than a year.
Countee Cullen wanted to be recognized as an “Anglo-American” as opposed to a “Black poet”, causing an uproar with such acquaintances as Langston Hughes, Claude McKay, and Zora Neale Hurston. He wrote The Ballad of the Brown Girl in 1928 and The Black Christ and Other Poems in 1929. From 1929, until his death, he wrote many articles and poems, but, the reception that he had received with his earlier works was no longer present. His remaining years were dedicated to teaching English and French to mostly black high school students. He collaborated on a play with Arna Bontemps entitled St. Louis Woman. The play was based on Bontemps’ novel God Sends Sunday (1931). A few months before the play was to open, Countee Cullen died of high blood pressure on January 9, 1946.
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We thank you for following our five-part series on The Harlem Renaissance, and hope that it was entertaining, as well as informative. There is a wealth of information on The Harlem Renaissance to be found on the internet. Here are a just few links:
Perspectives in American Literature
Harlem Renaissance (MSN Encarta)
Harlem Renaissance - The New Negro Movement
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