The legacy Countee Cullen, constructed has made one of the biggest impacts on the era of the Harlem Renaissance. The message Cullen was capable of imposing through poetry to all races makes you believe he was destined to be the best. The struggles the African American, race was experiencing is exposed through Countee Cullen’s, work. He brought new respect and awareness to the black race; through poems like “Heritage”, “Fruit of The Flower,” and “Incident”. His life experiences were quite different from most African Americans of his era; which helped shape his brilliance. This made him much of an economic figure, because it gave him the advantage of connecting to both white and black races. Countee Cullen was born on 30 March 1902, …show more content…
In the article “African Americans: The Struggle for Economic Equality (1900-1950s),” written by aouthers of the “Univerity of California,” states “Racial discrimination often relegated them to low-paying service jobs, such as the men in Anaheim 's street corner shoeshine,” which expresses the fact blacks weren’t treted equaly. Countee Cullen was fortunate enough to grow up with a well disciplined foster father. According to a passage in William Lawler’s book, “Magills Survey of American Literature,” he grew up consistently going to Salem Methodist Episcopal Church, which happen to be very a white, and conservative. Although Cullen didn’t necessarily fallow the beliefs of the church he benefited greatly, because he was brought up and influenced by white well-educated people. His upbringing made him come across as a well-educated, well-mannered boy. His level of education allowed him to capable of appealing to both white and black races; which wasn’t common during the years of early 1900’s. He expresses his parent’s diverse parenting style through his poems. For example, the poem “Fruit of The Flower,” describes his parents as being quite different. He refers to his father as being, “A quiet man With sober, steady way: For smile a folded fan,” (Lines 1-2), then refers to his mother as being “Puritan, no hint of cavalier, with a pool so calm your sure it can, have little depth to fear,” …show more content…
He attended DeWitt Clinton High School, where he was first noticed for his talent with poetry. According to Gerald Early’s, article “About Countee Cullens Life and Career,” when he first started school he didn’t share any of his poetry nor did he make any. Cullen’s, religion taught him to act as a conservative catholic. This held him back from pursuing his talent because it restricted him from expressing much emotion. School allowed Cullen, to feel comfortable. School was like a playground for Cullen where he wasn’t judged or restricted from creating his art. He first noticed his level of talent when he entered and won a high school poem competition. From that point he continued to gain momentum by excelling in school (1-3). Cullens, academic success began giving whites a new opinion on African American potential. At the time most blacks weren’t fortnutite enough to get a well-rounded education because a majority of whites viewed them as unworthy or incapable of handling a whites student level of education. Allot of this changed when he released his first poem book in 1925, “Color”. The book immediately gained staggering amount of attention through the nation. According to “The too-brief career of Countee Cullen. By: Anderson, Michael, New Criterion,” states, “His debut collection of poems, Color (1925), enjoyed a good sale, and won not only critical