By Florence Borders, Christopher Harter, Duncan May, Jessica Macleish, and Topher England
Title: Countee Cullen papers, 1900-1947
Creator: Cullen, Countee (1903?-1946)
Extent: 11.9 Linear Feet
Arrangement: Collection is arranged in thirteen series. Most series are arranged chronologically or topically within each series. Correspondence is arranged alphabetically and then chronologically.
Date Acquired: 01/01/1970. More info below under Accruals.
Languages: English, French, Portuguese, German
The papers of poet and playwright Countee Cullen document his personal and professional lives, as well as his relations with leading writers and artists of the Harlem Renaissance era. Among the papers, which measure 7.8 linear feet, are correspondence; accounts, records, documents, legal papers, and certificates; a fragmentary diary (1928); teaching plan books and other teaching records; writings, including, articles, a book review, letters to editors, juvenile novels, plays, poems, a radio serial, and a short story; sheet music; notes and lists; scrapbooks and clippings; biographical sketches and obituaries; photographs; programs, invitations, and announcements; pamphlets, leaflets, and several periodicals; and phonograph records. The greater part of the collection consists of the correspondence of Countee Cullen and his writings.
The letters of Cullen and his contemporaries reveal their close associations and provide insight into their lives, as well as their thoughts on the writing and art, collectively and individually, being produced during the Harlem Renaissance. Cullen's writings represented in the collection range from hand script and typescript drafts to published works in serial, book, and broadside formats. A number of Cullen's poems set to music are also represented.
Cullen's personal life is represented by legal, medical, and other documents, as well as certificates and other ephemera. The collection also includes a number of scrapbooks and notebooks containing Cullen's thoughts, essays, and poems. Teaching plan books, as well as student exams and poems, provide a view of Cullen's later life as a teacher. Much like the correspondence in the collection, the photographs include those of not only Cullen, but many of his contemporaries.
One of the leading figures in the Harlem Renaissance, Countee Cullen achieved recognition as a respected writer at an early age and was one of the most widely read American poets during his lifetime. Cullen contributed greatly to African American letters as a poet, playwright, and editor. He later taught in the New York school system.
Cullen's early life, including his date of birth and birthplace, has been speculated on by scholars. He was likely born on May 30, 1903, in Louisville, Kentucky, although his birthplace has also been cited as Baltimore, Maryland; New Orleans, Louisiana; and New York City. His father is unknown, and his mother, Elizabeth Thomas Lucas, died in Louisville in 1940.
By 1916, Cullen was living with Amanda Porter, presumably his grandmother, in New York. He attended Public School 27 under the name Countée L. Porter. After her death in 1917, Cullen went to live with Reverend Frederick Asbury Cullen and his wife, Carolyn, in Harlem. Although he was never formally adopted by the Cullens, he assumed their surname in 1918.
Cullen did well in school, was active in various clubs, and received a number of awards and recognitions. Throughout secondary school and at New York University, he was active in various literary societies and his poetry began appearing regularly in school publications. His poetry won awards from contests sponsored by the Empire Federation of Women's Clubs, the Poetry Society of America, and The Crisis magazine, and was published in magazines such as American Mercury, Poetry, Opportunity, The Crisis, Harper's, and others. Cullen's first book, Color, was published in 1925 during his senior year at New York University, where he received his bachelor's degree. He received his master's degree from Harvard University.
Cullen's second book, Copper Sun, was published in 1927 and was awarded a prize by the Harmon Foundation. During that same year, he edited an anthology of African American poetry entitled Caroling Dusk, which was illustrated by Aaron Douglas. Cullen's work received widespread acclaim due to his ability to portray the African American experience through classical poetic forms. He was soon hailed as the leading literary figure of the "New Negro Movement," which later became known as the Harlem Renaissance.
Cullen served as assistant editor of Opportunity from 1926 to 1928, which regularly featured his column, "The Dark Tower." The year 1928 saw the publication of his third volume of poetry, The Ballad of a Brown Girl. He began studying in Paris on a Guggenheim Fellowship that same year. The Black Christ and Other Poems was published while he was living in France.
In 1928, he married Nina Yolande Du Bois, daughter of W.E.B. Du Bois. However, they divorced two years later, in part because of Cullen's admission to her that he was sexually attracted to men. During the 1930s and 1940s, Cullen continued to write; however, he failed to receive the critical acclaim of his earlier works. He wrote his only novel, One Way to Heaven (1932), a volume of poems entitled The Medea and Some Poems (1935), and two books for children, The Lost Zoo (1940) and My Lives and How I Lost Them (1942).
Cullen lectured and conducted readings during those decades. He began teaching in New York public schools in 1932, and accepted a full-time position teaching English and French at Frederick Douglass Junior High School two years later. He married Ida Mae Roberson in 1940. Cullen died on January 9, 1946.
Cullen's interests in classical and romantic lyrical poetry lead some critics, including contemporaries such as Langston Hughes, to fault his work for not addressing African American themes on a deeper level, especially in his later work. His collaboration with Arna Bontemps on the script for the musical St. Louis Woman was also opposed by the NAACP for its representation of African Americans. However, Cullen remains one of the leading figures of the Harlem Renaissance and was for many years the most celebrated poets in the United States.
Accruals: Three additions to this collection were received in 1970, 1976, and 1986.
Access Restrictions: This collection is open for research.
Use Restrictions: Copyrights and other intellectual property rights for all books, plays, and literary works of Countee Cullen have been assigned to the Amistad Research Center. It is the responsibility of an author to secure permission for publication from the holder of the copyright to any material contained in this collection.
Technical Access Note: Phonograph records are unavailable for use.
Acquisition Source: Ida Cullen Cooper and Ida Cullen Cooper Estate
Acquisition Method: Gift and Purchase
Appraisal Information: The Countee Cullen papers document the life and career of the Harlem Renaissance poet and playwright.
Original/Copies Note: Portions of the collection as originally processed in 1975 have been microfilmed. For more information please see http://www.amistadresearchcenter.org/_pdfs/Archon/Countee Cullen Papers - Microfilm Guide.pdf.
Related Materials:
Ida Cullen Cooper papers
Robert Cooper papers
Countee Cullen's library is housed within the Amistad Research Center's library collection.
Related Publications:
Early, Gerald (ed.). My Soul's High Song: The Collected Writings of Countee Cullen, Voice of the Harlem Renaissance. (New York: Doubleday, 1991).
Perry, Margaret. A Bio-Bibliography of Countee P. Cullen, 1903-1946. (Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1971).
Preferred Citation: Countee Cullen papers, Amistad Research Center at Tulane University, New Orleans, Louisiana
Processing Information: Collection originally processed by Florence Borders in 1975.
Finding Aid Revision History:
In 2009, the collection was reprocessed to include a 1986 addendum. During this reprocessing, the collection was reorganized into series and material postdating Cullen's life and collected by Ida Cullen Cooper was transferred to the Ida Cullen Cooper papers.
This finding aid represents the entirety of the Countee Cullen papers, including portions not listed in the guide to the microfilm edition of the papers.
Box 13
This small series contains papers written by Cullen while he was a student, as well as material related to his editorship of The Magpie, a publication of De Witt Clinton High School.
