Reflections on Countee Cullen

Incident

Once riding in old Baltimore,

Heart-filled, head-filled with glee,

I saw a Baltimorean

Keep looking straight at me.

Now I was eight and very small,

And he was no whit bigger,

And so I smiled, but he poked out

His tongue, and called me, "Nigger."

I saw the whole of Baltimore

From May until December;

Of all the things that happened there

That's all that I remember.

Countee Cullen was a notoriously secretive individual regarding the more personal details of his early life. Accounts of his childhood remain inconsistent - one article claimed he was born in Baltimore, another in Kentucky - and was raised by a grandmother who died sometime between the years 1908 and 1918. He was the adopted by the reverend of Harlem's largest church congregation of that era, Salem Methodist Episcopal Church.

I think this background is important in situating Cullen's identity, particularly in terms of racial consciousness, class, and moral beliefs. He grew up in the mecca of black artistic and literary movements. While he was canonical and more traditional in his appreciation of literature, he was rooted in a time and place of intentional blackness. As the beginning of the reading mentions, he was introduced to Paris through extensive travel with his father en route to the Holy Land, implying his family enjoyed a certain amount of class privilege. Also, I would argue his Protestant background plays a part in his short-lived marriage to Yolande DuBois, and related expectations and shortcomings around love and romantic relationships.

(I referenced the thepoetryfoundation.org, wikipedia, and english.illinois.edu for the biographical information in the first paragraph.)

Questions

1. The Martiniquan dance hall Bal Colonial is mentioned a few times as one of Cullen's favorite spots, even above attending the opera. What insight, if any, does this give us into Cullen's negotiation of an black identity in France?

2. What specific factors in Cullen's background could have contributed to his especially pronounced 'Francophilia'?

3. Why did Cullen's writing practice seem to taper off towards the 1930s?

4. What intra-communal dynamics stand out during Cullen's time in Paris?

5. How does social class play into Cullen's experience in Paris?

6. What conclusions can we draw around Cullen's two marriages and his personal journaling in regards to romantic love?

7. How do you relate to Zora Neale Hurston's commentary about Countee Cullen: "A Negro goes to white land to learn his trade! Ha!"