Countee Cullen

Countee Cullen (1903-1946) poet, novelist, playwright photo by James L. Allen Countee Cullen was born Countee Porter on May 30, 1903, in New York. He was the adopted son of Reverend and Mrs. Frederick Ashbury Cullen. Reverend Cullen was an influential minister who pastored Salem Methodist Episcopal Church, one of the largest churches in Harlem at that time. "I Have a Rendezvous With Life," Cullen's first published poem, appeared in the DeWitt Clinton High School literary magazine, The Magpie , in 1921. He had been writing poetry since he was in elementary school. DeWitt Clinton was considered to be one of the finest public schools in New York at the time and very few African-American students were enrolled there. Young Countee did very well in school and was elected to class office as well as serving in an editorial capacity on several of his school publications. He was elected to ARISTA, the scholastic honor society, and upon graduation, received distinctions in Latin, mathematics, English, history and French. In 1925, Cullen graduated from New York University with honors. He was elected to Phi Beta Kappa and was nationally known as a poet by then. His first book of poems, Colors, was published that same year and established him as the major poet of the Harlem Renaissance. While attending NYU, he won the Witter Brynner Undergraduate Poetry Prize. In May of 1925, Cullen also won second prize in the Opportunity literary contest for his poem "To One Who Said Me Nay." Opportunity was the literary organ of the National Urban League. Cullen became assistant editor for Opportunity, under Charles S. Johnson, in 1926. During the time he was on staff there, he wrote editorials and a column called "The Dark Tower" which featured book reviews and articles. He also attended Harvard University and received his Master of Arts degree. Cullen received the Harmon Foundation Literary Award in 1927 as well as a Guggenheim Fellowship for study abroad. He also published his second major collection of poems, Copper Sun , that year. Countee Cullen taught French and English at the Frederick Douglass Junior High School, PS 139, for many years and was a very popular teacher there. Considered to be a lyric poet, he concentrated on themes having to do with love and nature. Not wanting to be considered a "Negro" poet, but rather a poet, Cullen ran into an age-old problem that African-American artists encounter. He did not wish to be categorized, but rather appreciated as an artist who happened to be of African descent. Yet, he wrote beautiful verses with racial themes. His single novel, One Way to Heaven , was published in 1932. He collaborated with Arna Bontemps on his novel Gods Sends Sunday , which later became first a play and then a musical entitled St. Louis Woman. This production went to Broadway in 1946 and had a successful run. Cullen, unfortunately, died a few months before it opened. Although he died a relatively young man, Countee Cullen was considered one of the best known poets of his time. The 136th Street Branch of The New York Public Library is named in his honor.