On May 30, 1903, Countee LeRoy Porter was born. At an early age, Porter came to be in the care of his grandmother. Some sources state his mother had died,21 while others stated that she had abandoned him and came back later to try and reconnect.22 Porter was a very private individual, which contributes to some of the misinformation.
As a result of his grandmother’s passing in 1918, Cullen came to live with Reverend Frederick A. Cullen in Harlem. During this time, Cullen was exposed to African American politics and culture as a part of the family of an influential pastor. Hearing about and living the African American experience shaped his work as a writer as did his formal education by mostly white educators.23 In high school, he was an honor student, school newspaper editor, and achieved awards for his poetry. After graduation, Cullen attended New York University where he was the winner of the Witter Brynn Contest for his writing. After achieving his undergraduate degree, Cullen went on to attain a masters at Harvard University.24
In 1928, two significant events impacted Cullen. The first was he married Nina Yolanda Du Bois, the daughter of W.E.B. Du Bois, a noted African American intellectual. Secondly, he was awarded a Guggenheim fellowship resulting in him leaving for France to write poetry. After returning, Cullen divorced his wife in 1930.25 While Cullen remained a private person, his friends were mostly gay men. Later, Nina Yolanda Du Bois stated their marriage broke up because of Cullen’s attraction to men.26
While Cullen may mostly be known for his poetry, he was also a novelist, playwright, and children’s book author. His first volume of poetry was entitled Color. Some of his other volumes of poetry included Copper Sun and Ballad of a Brown Girl. In 1932, Cullen published One Way to Heaven, which turned out to be his only novel. He later published a play The Third Fourth of July. Cullen’s work managed to attract attention of a diverse audience of readers from all races. Some of his work, such as Heritage, represented his desire to reclaim his art’s African roots. Ultimately, Cullen felt all poetry was just poetry, not to be designated differently by race.27
In his final years, Cullen continued to write while he also taught at a public school. He married Ida Mae Robertson in 1940, and they remained married until his death. On January 9, 1946, Cullen died from complications stemming from high blood pressure and uremia in New York City.28