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Poet Countee Cullen is born.
1903 (May 30)
Born Countee Porter, he was orphaned at an early age and adopted by Black Reverend Frederick Cullen, pastor of the Salem Methodist Church of New York. Cullen earned his bachelor's degree from New York University, where he was a Phi Beta Kappa scholar. In 1925, while still a student at New York University, he published his first volume of poetry, "Color," which earned him the Harmon Foundation's first gold medal for literature in 1927. Cullen also received the Witter Bynner poetry prize. And in 1926, he received an M.A. degree from Harvard University and began a two-year sojourn in France, sponsored by a Guggenheim Fellowship. When he returned to New York City, Cullen commenced his teaching career in the public school system. He continued to publish poetry and completed the novel, One Way to Heaven, in 1932. In 1947, one year after his death, a collection of works chosen by Cullen himself was published under the title, On These I Stand. Cullen died in New York City on January 10, 1946.
References:
- • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.