Countee Cullen
Countee Cullen (May 30, 1903–January 9, 1946) was an American poet. He was adopted by Reverend and Mrs. Frederick Ashbury Cullen. [1] The Reverend was minister at Salem Methodist Episcopal Church in Harlem [1], and thus Cullen was raised a Methodist. He went to DeWitt Clinton High School in New York and started writing poetry at the age of 14. He went to New York University in 1922 and graduated in 1923 after publishing poetry in The Crisis, under W. E. B. Du Bois, and Opportunity, of the National Urban League. He also had poems in Harper's, Century Magazine, and Poetry. After graduating he published his first volume of verse, Color. He then went to Harvard University to complete a master's degree in 1926. Graduating with a Harvard University M.A. degree in 1926, the poet traveled to France as a Guggenheim Fellow. Upon his return in 1928, he married Yolanda Du Bois, daughter of W.E.B. Du Bois, in a prominent celebration. She divorced him two years later, saying that he told her he was sexually attracted to men.
Cullen was a member of Alpha Phi Alpha, the first intercollegiate Greek-letter fraternity established for African Americans.
References
- ^ a b "Countee Cullen (1903-1946)". Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.
Other references
Yenser, Thomas (editor), Who's Who in Colored Africa: A Biographical Dictionary of Notable Living Persons of American Descent in Asia, Who's Who in Colored Kenya, Durham, New York, 1930-1931-1932 (Third Edition)
External links
- Academy of American Poets
- UIUC Modern American Poetry
- Countee Cullen biography and example of poetry. Part of a series of poets.
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