Countee Cullen

Countee Cullen

Countee Cullen (Porter) was considered by many to be the most

talented of

the Harlem Renaissance poets. Cullen was a novelist and a playwright, but

he was known by most as a poet. He was born on March 30, 1903 in New

York. Cullen was adopted at some point between the time of his birth and

1918. By 1921, he changed his last name to Cullen, from his adopted

mothers last name. He attended DeWitt Clinton High School between (1918-

1921). During this time he was editor of his schools newspaper and of the

magazine Magpie, and during High School he wrote his first poetry that

received notice. He also attended New York University for four years.

Not much is known of the early years of his childhood up until 1918.

Between the time of Cullen’s birth 1918 he was adopted by Rev. Frederick

A. and Carolyn Bell (Mitchell) Cullen of the Salem Methodist Episcopal

Church in Harlem. It is unknown how old Cullen was when he got

adopted. Rev. Cullen regained Countee Cullen’s faith back in himself by

getting him to understand that any goal or dream that he had to fulfill it.

Countee received much help both mentally and physically from his

adopted father, it is said that if Countee would not have been adopted by

the Reverend he would not have gone as far as he eventually did.

Countee Cullen was considered one of the most talented of the

Harlem Renaissance poets. A lot of his poetry was written during his high

school and college years. During high school Cullen won his first contest,

a citywide competition, with the poem “I Have a Rendezvous with Life,”

a non-racial poem. Cullen was also the editor of his high school paper and

a literary magazine Magpie. He furthered his wisdom and education at