Countee LeRoy (Porter) Cullen (abt. 1903 - 1946)

Born about 30 May 1903 in Louisville, Jefferson, Kentucky, United States

Husband of Nina Yolande Du Bois — married 9 Apr 1928 (to 1930) in Manhattan, New York, New York, United States

Died 9 Jan 1946 at about age 42 in Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States

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Biography

Countée (Porter) Cullen is Notable.

Countée Cullen was a prominent African-American poet, novelist, children's writer, and playwright.

He was born in Louisville, Kentucky, in 1903, the son of Elizabeth Lucas and a man named John Porter or John Henry Porter. His parents were not married.^[1] His date of birth is not known with certainty. The birthday of May 30 is listed in multiple places, but the indicated year of birth ranges from 1900 to 1903. ^[2]

He moved to New York City with family by 1910, when the U.S. Census recorded Couty Porter, age 8, in the borough of Manhattan, in the household of 50-year-old Henry Porter and his 40-year-old wife Mandy. According to the census form, all three Porters were born in Kentucky to parents born in Kentucky and were black. Henry Porter worked as a porter in the theatre industry. It was the first marriage for both Henry and Mandy, and Mandy had had one child, who was living.^[3] The 1915 New York State Census recorded 12-year-old Contee Porter as "son" in the New York City household of Henry Porter, age 48, and his wife Amanda Porter, age 40. Contee was the only child in the household, which also included a 21-year-old lodger named Rosie Johnson. Henry Porter's occupation was "porter work," and Rosie Johnson was a dressmaker.^[4]

Molesworth opined that Amanda Porter was Countee's grandmother and suggested that Countee had been sent to live in New York City with grandparents.^[5]

John H. Porter died on 22 January 1917 at age 52 and Amanda Porter died on 8 December 1917. ^[6] Around the time that Amanda Porter died, Countee moved into the home of Reverend Frederick Ashby Cullen, the pastor of Salem Methodist Episcopal Church in Harlem, who became Countee's adoptive father. Countee assumed his last name.^[7] His death record identifies his parents as Frederick D. Cullen and Caroline Mitchell.^[8]

During his teenage years, Countee began to write poetry and gain attention for his talent. In 1920, while a student at DeWitt Clinton High School, he won a citywide poetry competition for his poem "I Have a Rendezvous with Life" that was later published nationally.^[9] After graduating with honors from DeWitt Clinton High School in 1922, he enrolled at New York University (NYU). His poetry writing continued and his work began to appear in national publications. His first complete book of poems, Color, was published in 1925. After his graduation from NYU, he began a graduate program at Harvard University, where he received a master's degree in English in 1926.^[10] The years from 1925 to 1929 were his most productive as a poet. By 1929 he had several books of his own poetry in print and had edited a collection of poems written by other African Americans, entitled Caroling Dusk.^[11] His later published writings included one novel, One Way to Heaven (1932), a volume of poems entitled The Medea and Some Poems (1935), a play entitled The Medea of Euripides (1935), and two books for children, The Lost Zoo (1940) and My Lives and How I Lost Them (1942).^[12]

He married Nina Yolande Du Bois in Manhattan, New York City, New York, on 9 April 1928.^[13] She was the daughter of W. E. B. Du Bois, who had encouraged their relationship. Their lavish wedding in New York City was widely reported by both African-American and white news media. There were 1,200 invited guests, but 3,000 people showed up. The marriage was not a success. The couple took a one-week trip together immediately after the wedding, then Yolande went back to her teaching job in Baltimore and Countee returned to his home in Manhattan. They saw each other on weekends until taking a longer honeymoon trip to France and Algeria in the summer of 1928.^[14] A few months after their marriage, Countee Cullen informed Yolande that he was attracted to other men.^[15] The couple separated in October 1928, news media reported rumors of their intention to divorce as early as March 1929, and and the divorce was finalized in Paris in February 1930.^[14]

The 1940 U.S. Census recorded Countee Cullen, age 37, in the Manhattan home of of his father, Frederick A. Cullen, a 60-year-old widower.^[16] Countee married again, later in 1940, to Ida Roberson, a native of Tulsa, Oklahoma. Their marriage continued until his death. She later married Robert L. Cooper.^[17]

Countee Cullen died in Manhattan, New York City, on 9 January 1946 and was buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx, New York. ^[8][18] The death record describes him as a teacher, a resident of Tuckahoe in Westchester County, New York, and married to Ida Cullen.^[8] A single memorial stone in Woodlawn Cemetery memorializes him and Robert L. Cooper, who married his widow, Ida Cullen, in 1951. The stone gives his life dates as 1903-1946 and describes him as Poet / Author / Scholar.^[18]

Sources

1. ↑ Molesworth, pages 7-8.
2. ↑ Molesworth, pages 8-9.
3. ↑ United States Census, 1910. Enumeration sheet for Manhattan Ward 19, New York, New York; Roll: T624_1042; Page: 9A; Enumeration District: 1126; FHL microfilm: 1375055. Accessed on Ancestry.com at https://www.ancestry.com/interactive/7884/4449905_00365
4. ↑ New York State Archives; Albany, New York; State Population Census Schedules, 1915; Election District: 27; Assembly District: 30; City: New York; County: New York; Page: 24. Accessed on Ancestry.com at https://www.ancestry.com/interactive/2703/32848_B094089-00138
5. ↑ Molesworth, pages 7-9.
6. ↑ Molesworth, page 11.
7. ↑ Molesworth, page 15
8. ↑ ^{8.0 8.1 8.2} "New York, New York City Municipal Deaths, 1795-1949", database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:2WY3-CP7 : 3 June 2020), Countee Cullen, 1946.
9. ↑ Molesworth, pages 21-23.
10. ↑ Wikipedia: Countee Cullen
11. ↑ Countee Cullen, The Poetry Foundation (website), accessed 1 September 2020.
12. ↑ Florence Borders, Christopher Harter, Duncan May, Jessica Macleish, and Topher England. Countee Cullen papers, 1900-1947 | Amistad Research Center, Tulane University.
13. ↑ "New York, New York City Marriage Records, 1829-1940," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:24W5-WY9 : 20 March 2015), Cauntee Cullen and Nina Yolanda De Bois, 09 Apr 1928; citing Marriage, Manhattan, New York, New York, United States, New York City Municipal Archives, New York; FHL microfilm 1,653,342.
14. ↑ ^{14.0 14.1} Jones, Jacqueline C. "So the Girl Marries: Class, the Black Press, and the DuBois-Cullen Wedding of 1928." In: Ogbar, Jeffrey O. G., ed. The Harlem Renaissance Revisited: Politics, Arts, and Letters, Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2010. Pages 49-59.
15. ↑ Molesworth, Charles. "Countee Cullen's Reputation." Transition, No. 107, Blending Borders (2012), pages 67-77. Published by Indiana University Press on behalf of the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research at Harvard University. https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2979/transition.107.67
16. ↑ "United States Census, 1940," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-89MB-9XJ4?cc=2000219&wc=QZXR-6M5%3A790105101%2C804828501%2C805114401%2C805121301 : accessed 2 September 2020), New York > New York > New York City, Manhattan, Assembly District 13 > 31-1137 New York City, Manhattan Borough Assembly District 13 (Tract 224 - part) > image 2 of 24; citing Sixteenth Census of the United States, 1940, NARA digital publication T627. Records of the Bureau of the Census, 1790 - 2007, RG 29. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2012.
17. ↑ Ida Cullen Cooper, 86, Widow Of Harlem Renaissance Poet. New York Times, May 6, 1986.
18. ↑ ^{18.0 18.1} Find a Grave, database and images (accessed 9 May 2020), memorial page for Countee Cullen (30 May 1903–9 Jan 1946), Find A Grave: Memorial #8850237, citing Woodlawn Cemetery, Bronx, Bronx County, New York, USA ; Maintained by Find A Grave.

• Molesworth, Charles. And Bid Him Sing: A Biography of Countée Cullen. University of Chicago Press, 2012. Google Books (preview)
• Wikipedia: Countee_Cullen
• Wikidata: Item Q1137066