Countee Cullen and the Harlem Renaissance

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Countee Cullen, was one amongst many in a life of accomplishments. He received many awards and was recognized for much of his work. Cullen was a very good writer during his career. Cullen was a major figure in the Harlem Renaissance, a literary movement associated with African American writers in New York City in the 1920's. Though primarily a poet who wrote in standards forms, Cullen also wrote a novel, plays, and children's literature.
Countee Cullen was born on May 30,1903.Countee Cullen was very secretive about his life. According to sources he was born in Louisville Kentucky or Baltimre, and given the name Countee Leroy Lucas at birth. Cullen’s mother name was Elizabeth Lucas. In 1918 Cullen was sent to live with his paternal grandmother Elizabeth Porter in Harlem, New York. Countee Cullen was unofficially adopted by Frederick Asbury Cullen, a minister of Harlem’s Salem Methodist Episcopal Church and his wife Carolyn Belle Cullen. Cullen attended De Witt Clinton High School. He was the chairman of the senior publications committee. In High school he edited the school’s weekly newspaper, The Clinton News, The schools literary magazine, and The Magpie. (Cullen 1).
Countee Cullen attended the University of new York receiving his bachelor’s degree in literature from 1922 to 1925. He was also elected to Phi Betta Kappa. From 1925 to 1926 Cullen earned his master’s degree in English from Harvard University. In 1928, Countee Cullen married Yolande Du Bois, the daughter of W.E.B. Du Bois. They lived in France on a Guggenheim Fellowship. In 1930, Countee Cullen and Yolande separated and eventually divorced. The marriage lasted only a year. In 1934, Cullen took a position as a French and English teacher at Frederick Douglass Junior Hig...

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...e. For many years after his death, Countee Cullen's Reputation was eclipsed by that of other Harlem Renaissance writers, particularly Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston and his work had gone out of print. In the last few years, however, there has been a resurgence of interest in cullen's life and work and his writings are being reissued.

Works Cited

Beetz Kirk H. "Countee Cullen". Research Guide to Biography & Criticism 5. (1991): 202. Biography collection complete. web 7 May 2014.
"Cullen Countee." World Book Online Info Finder. World Book, 2014. web. 28 April 2014.
Cullen, Countee."The too-brief career of Countee Cullen" The New Criterion. April 2013. 24.
Lawlor, William T. Countee Cullen. Salem: Salem Press, September 2006.
"Williams, Jasmine." Countee Cullen: A Renaissance Poet." The New York Amsterdam News 1 Apr. 2012, SEC. In the Classroom: 28 Print.

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