Born May 30, 1903

Most sources say Louisville, Kentucky

Died January 9, 1946

New York, New York

American poet, novelist, and dramatist

Countee Cullen. (The Bettmann Archive/Corbis-Bettmann. Reproduced by permission.)

"If I am going to be a poet at all, I am going to be a POET and not a NEGRO poet."

One of the most promising young poets of the Harlem Renaissance, Countee Cullen was a favorite of the Talented Tenth (as defined by W.E.B. Du Bois and his followers, the most accomplished and ambitious segment of African American society) due both to his gentlemanly personal style and his highly acclaimed poetry. Cullen wished to be recognized on his own merits and struggled against being defined as a "black" poet. His writing style reflected his regard for the nineteenth-century poets of the romantic movement (romanticism was a movement in literature that promoted emotion and imagination), including...