Countee Cullen (formerly known as Countee LeyRoy Porter) was an award-winning African American poet, novelist, and playwright during the Harlem Renaissance. He wrote in a traditional style, praised the beauty of blacks, and fought against racism through his poems making him famous in black history for his notable contribution to the propagation of racial equality. He was born on May 30, 1903, to Elizabeth Thomas Lucas but lost his parents at a very young age. After the demise of his parents, his paternal grandmother, Amanda Porter, took on the responsibility of caring for him. At the age of nine, his grandmother brought him to Harlem but she died during his teen years leaving him all to himself.
After the loss of his grandmother, a clergyman, Reverend Fredrick A. Cullen, together with his wife Belle Mitchell adopted him at age 15 although the adoption was said to be unofficial. Reverend Cullen played a significant role in Countee’s life and was a father figure. He enrolled Countee in Dewitt Clinton High School and there he developed an interest in poetry and wrote his poems.
Countee did excellently in his academics, he came first in a poetry contest that took place in the city. His school also made him the editor of their newspaper and vice president of his class. Cullen graduated from high school in 1922 and gained entrance into the New York University (NYU). In 1923, his poem book “The Ballad of the Brown Girl” got him second place in the Witter Bynner National Competitions which was a poetry contest for undergraduates. Cullen competed again the following year and still came second but he finally made it to first place in 1925. He graduated from the university that same year and was one of eleven students selected to Phi Beta Kappa going on to Harvard for a master’s degree in English.
There is no secret to success except hard work and
Countee Cullen
getting something indefinable which we call ‘the breaks’.
Cullen’s publications remain remarkable in African American history. He published his debut poetry collection “Color” in 1925. It comprised different poems including, the famous “Incident”, “Heritage”, and “Yet Do I Marvel” which spoke about racial inequality and injustice. He graduated in 1926 with a master’s degree in English while he was the guest editor of a unique kind of poem called “Negro Poets”, and this position made Harper invite him to edit a collection of black poetry in 1927. Cullen also played the role of the assistant editor of “Opportunity Magazine” and was a benefactor of the Guggenheim Fellowship in 1928 allowing him to extend his writing internationally. Some other published works include Copper Sun, Harpers and Brothers in 1927, “The Black Christ” in 1929, “One Way to Heaven (prose) in 1931, St. Louis Women in 1946, and many more.
My poetry, I think, has become the way of my giving out what music is within me
Countee Cullen
The Countee Cullen Library, a Harlem branch location of the New York Public Library, was named in his honor. In 2013, he was inducted into the New York Writers Hall of Fame. He died on January 9, 1946, at the age of 42 from Uremia and high blood pressure, and was laid to rest in Woodlawn Cemetery, New York City.