Countee Cullen Collection

The James Weldon Johnson Memorial Collection of African American Arts and Letters includes a small collection of papers relating tot he life and work of Countee Cullen. Recognized at an early age for his poetic gift, poet Countee Cullen became one of the leading lights of the Harlem Renaissance. Following the success of his volumes of poems, he studied in France on a Guggenheim Fellowship, married Yolande DuBois, the daughter of W.E.B. DuBois, and taught in the New York City school system. The collection includes manuscripts and pre-publication documents for The Black Christ, Copper Sun, My Lives and How I Lost Them and other works and correspondence with Langston Hughes and Harold Jackman, among others. A detailed record of the colelction is on line: Countee Cullen Collection.  Related materials may be found by searching the Library's Finding Aid Database.

Image: Countee Cullen in Central Park, photographed by Carl Van Vechten