Cullen's Mystery Birthplace

– He was born on May 30, 1903
– Cullen’s place of birth was unknown
– People think he was born in Louisville, Kentucky, Baltimore, Maryland or New York City.
– But friend Langston Hughes and his wife said he was born in Louisville

– He lived in New York but for a short amount of time lived in France
– Got married twice once to Yolande Du Bois and second time to Da Mae Roberson
– Langston Hugh was one of Cullen close friends
– Cullen was influenced by John Keats
– Growing up Cullen lived in a white community which influenced his writing.

– Died on January 9, 1946 in New York because of Uremia

– Was raised as a methodist
– Started to write poetry at age 14
– raised in a white community
– Lost his parents and brothers
– Raised by his grandma until she died and than lived with Carolyn Belle and Reverend Frederick A. Cullen

– Went to Dewitt High School where he won a city wide poetry contest
– Went to New York University where he graduated and won the Witter Byner poetry prize
– Then went to Harvard and graduated with a master

– started to write at age 14
– Stopped writing for 4 years than later worked as a public high school teacher
– His poems were published in the The Crisis and Opportunity and also one of his poems were published in Harper’s book the Century Magazine, and Poetry
– Won many awards and some being because of his poem “Ballad of the brown girl”
– In 1935, he was the first African-American poet to translate and publish Euripides’ classical work Medea
– Was a leader in the Harlem Renaissance
– Wrote in two different genres, comedies and tragedies

Some Famous quotes he has had are
– “For we must be one thing or the other, an asset or a liability, the sinew in your wing to help you soar, or the chain to bind you to earth.

”
– “Your love to me was like an unread book.”

– In 1947 many of his poetry was rewarded
– 1935, he was the first African-American poet to translate and publish Euripides’ classical work Medea.
– Public schools were named after him
– Also he had a library named after him as Harlem’s 135th Street Branch library which was renamed the Countee Cullen Library after his passing.
– In 2012 a biography was published about him called And Bid Him Sing, by Charles Molesworth

– Harlem Wine (1926)
From the Dark Tower (1926)
Color (1925)
Copper Sun (1927)
My Soul’s High Song: The Collected Writings of Countee Cullen (1991)
-But Harlem Wine and From the Dark Tower were from the Harlem stomp book that we read earlier.