Countee Cullen (born Countee LeRoy Porter; May 30, 1903 – January 9, 1946) was an American poet, novelist, children's writer, and playwright, particularly well known during the Harlem Renaissance.
Countee LeRoy Porter was born on May 30, 1903, to Elizabeth Thomas Lucas.
Due to a lack of records of his early childhood, historians have had difficulty identifying his birthplace.
Baltimore, Maryland, New York City, and Louisville, Kentucky have been cited as possibilities.
Although Cullen claimed to have been born in New York City, he also frequently referred to Louisville, Kentucky, as his birthplace on legal applications.
1917
Cullen was brought to Harlem at the age of nine by Amanda Porter, believed to be his paternal grandmother, who cared for him until her death in 1917.
Reverend Frederick A. Cullen, pastor of Salem Methodist Episcopal Church, Harlem's largest congregation, and his wife, the former Carolyn Belle Mitchell, adopted the 15-year-old Countee Porter, although the adoption may not have been official.
Frederick Cullen was a central figure in Countee's life, and acted as his father.
The influential minister would eventually become president of the Harlem chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).
Cullen entered the DeWitt Clinton High School, then located in Hell's Kitchen.
He excelled academically at the school and started writing poetry.
He won a citywide poetry contest.
At DeWitt, he was elected into the honor society, was editor of the weekly newspaper, and was elected vice-president of his graduating class.
1922
In January 1922, he graduated with honors in Latin, Greek, Mathematics, and French.
After graduating from high school, he attended New York University (NYU).
1923
In 1923, Cullen won second prize in the Witter Bynner National Competitions for Undergraduate Poetry, sponsored by the Poetry Society of America, for his book of poems titled, "The Ballad of the Brown Girl".
Soon after, he was publishing poetry in national periodicals such as Harper's, Crisis, Opportunity, The Bookman, and Poetry, earning him a national reputation.
In March 1923, Cullen wrote to Locke about Carpenter's work: "It opened up for me soul windows which had been closed; it threw a noble and evident light on what I had begun to believe, because of what the world believes, ignoble and unnatural".
Critics and historians have not reached consensus as to Cullen's sexuality, partly because Cullen was unsure of this himself.
Cullen's first marriage, to Yolande Du Bois, experienced difficulties before ending in divorce.
He subsequently had relationships with many different men, although each ended poorly.
Each relationship had a sense of shame or secrecy, such as his relationship with Edward Atkinson.
Cullen later married Ida Robertson while potentially in a relationship with Atkinson.
Letters between Cullen and Atkinson suggest a romantic interest, although there is no concrete evidence that they were in a sexual relationship.
1925
The ensuing year, he again placed second in the contest, finally winning first prize in 1925.
He competed in a poetry contest sponsored by Opportunity and came in second with "To One Who Say Me Nay", losing to Langston Hughes's "The Weary Blues".
Cullen graduated from NYU in 1925 and was one of eleven students selected to Phi Beta Kappa.
That same year, Cullen entered Harvard to pursue a master's in English, and published Color, his first collection of poems that later became a landmark of the Harlem Renaissance.
Written in a careful, traditional style, the work celebrated black beauty and deplored the effects of racism.
The volume included "Heritage" and "Incident", probably his most famous poems.
"Yet Do I Marvel", about racial identity and injustice, showed the literary influence of William Wordsworth and William Blake, but its subject was far from the world of their Romantic sonnets.
The poet accepts that there is God, and "God is good, well-meaning, kind", but he finds a contradiction in his own plight in a racist society: he is black and a poet.
1926
In 1926, Cullen graduated with a master's degree while also serving as the guest editor of a special "Negro Poets" issue of the poetry magazine, Palms.
1927
The appointment led to Harper's inviting him to edit an anthology of Black poetry in 1927.
American writer Alain Locke helped Cullen come to terms with his sexuality.
Locke wanted to introduce a new generation of African-American writers, such as Countee Cullen, to the reading public.
Locke also sought to present the authentic natures of sex and sexuality through writing, creating a kind of relationship with those who felt the same.
Locke introduced Cullen to gay-affirming material, such as the work of Edward Carpenter, at a time when most gays were in the closet.
1928
Cullen married Yolande Du Bois on April 9, 1928.
She was the surviving child of W. E. B. Du Bois and his first wife Nina Gomer Du Bois, whose son had died as an infant.
