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68-500: The ANT produced 12 original Black plays and seven adaptations of non-Black work for tens of thousands of primarily Black audiences in its first nine years. The Black playwrights whose work the company produced included Countee Cullen ( One Way To Heaven ), Theodore Browne ( Go Down Moses and Natural Man ), Owen Dodson ( Garden of Time ), Alvin Hill ( Walk Hard ) and Curtis Cooksey ( Starlight ). In addition to their theatre productions,

136-421: A Dramatists Guild contract that would make Hill the co-author of Anna Lucasta . This gave Hill a five percent author's royalty. The ANT itself received few royalties for Anna Lucasta , and the next three ANT plays to appear on Broadway were not successful. As a result, divisions developed within the company, with many determined to repeat the success of Anna Lucasta , at the cost of their earlier emphasis on

204-693: A "people's theatre", and Hill's own break with the company. From then on, the ANT only featured plays from established white playwrights, and young actors viewed the ANT as a means to break into Broadway productions. The ANT had a four-part mission: When the ANT was first founded in 1940, the group created a 30-page constitution for themselves that reflected the ideals of the Federal Theatre Project. The constitution also drew upon W. E. B. Du Bois 's belief that African-American theatre should be by, about, for, and near African Americans. According to

272-588: A Eurocentric style of writing. He writes: "As heretical as it may sound, there is the probability that Negro poets, dependent as they are on the English language, may have more to gain from the rich background of English and American poetry than from the nebulous atavistic yearnings towards an African inheritance." Cullen believed that African-American poets should work within the English conventions of poetry to prove to white Americans that African Americans could participate in these classic traditions. He believed using

340-613: A Harlem branch location of the New York Public Library , was named in his honor. In 2013, he was inducted into the New York Writers Hall of Fame . In 1949 the anthology radio drama Destination Freedom , written by Richard Durham , recapped parts of his life. Due to Cullen's mixed identity, he developed an aesthetic that embraced both black and white cultures. He was a firm believer that poetry surpassed race and that it could be used to bring

408-483: A character for her in his 1935 play, Mulatto . As a showcase for McClendon, Countee Cullen adapted Euripides' tragedy Medea , working with producer John Houseman , composer Virgil Thomson and production designer Chick Austin . Although the sets and costumes had been ready for months, by the end of 1934 McClendon had fallen ill and the project was never realized. Her talent extended to directing as well as acting. In 1935 she co-founded, with Dick Campbell ,

476-630: A close look at the racial violence in America during the 1920s. By the time Cullen published this book of poetry, the concept of the Black Messiah was prevalent in other African-American writers such as Langston Hughes , Claude Mackay , and Jean Toomer . Copper Sun is a collection of poetry published in New York in 1927. The collection examines the sense of love, particularly a love or unity between white and black people. In some poems, love

544-689: A cooperative, and all members shared in the expenses and profits. The theatre's business model was parallel to its artistic policy of ensemble acting in lieu of individual leading roles."   Hill approached librarians at the public library on 135th Street in Harlem, the Harlem Branch of the New York Public Library , to start producing his plays. The librarians granted Hill and the ANT permission to use their 150-seat Little Library Theatre basement stage. The first show they produced Hits, Bits, and Skits opened on July 17, 1940. The first major play that

612-433: A huge congregation, Cullen was a shy person. He was not flamboyant with any of his relationships. It was rumored that Cullen had developed a relationship with Jackman, "the handsomest man in Harlem", which contributed to Cullen and Yolande's divorce. The young, dashing Jackman was a school teacher and, thanks to his handsome visage, a prominent figure among Harlem's gay elite. According to Thomas Wirth, author of Gay Rebel of

680-539: A kind of relationship with those who felt the same. Locke introduced Cullen to gay-affirming material, such as the work of Edward Carpenter , at a time when most gays were in the closet . In March 1923, Cullen wrote to Locke about Carpenter's work: "It opened up for me soul windows which had been closed; it threw a noble and evident light on what I had begun to believe, because of what the world believes, ignoble and unnatural". Critics and historians have not reached consensus as to Cullen's sexuality, partly because Cullen

748-478: A letter to Yolande confessing his love for men. Yolande told her father and filed for divorce. Her father wrote separately to Cullen, saying that he thought Yolande's lack of sexual experience was the reason the marriage did not work out. The couple divorced in 1930 in Paris. The details were negotiated between Cullen and Yolande's father, as the wedding details had been. With the exception of this marriage before

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816-474: A marriage to Cullen. The wedding was the social event of the decade among the African-American elite. Cullen, along with W.E.B. Du Bois , planned the details of the wedding with little help from Yolande. Every detail of the wedding, including the rail car used for transportation and Cullen receiving the marriage license four days prior to the wedding day, was considered big news and was reported to

884-410: A more traditional style of writing poetry would allow African Americans to build bridges between the black and white communities. Color is Countee Cullen's first published book and color is "in every sense its prevailing characteristic." Cullen discusses heavy topics regarding race and the distance of one's heritage from their motherland and how it is lost. It has been said that his poems fall into

952-676: A professional actress in her thirties, after winning a scholarship to the American Academy of Dramatic Art . At age 20 she was married to Dr. Henry Pruden McClendon, a chiropractor. Her first notable role came in Deep River , a "native opera with jazz", in 1926. In addition to acting, she also directed several plays at the Harlem Experimental Theatre. She appeared in the 1927 Pulitzer Prize -winning play In Abraham's Bosom by Paul Green . In 1931, she

1020-440: A romantic interest, although there is no concrete evidence that they were in a sexual relationship. Cullen married Yolande Du Bois on April 9, 1928. She was the surviving child of W. E. B. Du Bois and his first wife Nina Gomer Du Bois , whose son had died as an infant. The two young people were said to have been introduced by Cullen's close friend Harold Jackman . They met in the summer of 1923 when both were in college: she

1088-508: A variety of categories: those that with no mention were made of color. Secondly, the poems that circled around the consciousness of African Americans and how being a "Negro in a day like this" in America is very cruel. Through Cullen's writing, readers can view his own subjectivity of his inner workings and how he viewed the Negro soul and mind. He discusses the psychology of African Americans in his writings and gives an extra dimension that forces

1156-422: A young James Baldwin during his time at the school. In the last years of his life, Cullen wrote mostly for the theatre. He worked with Arna Bontemps to adapt Bontemps's 1931 novel God Sends Sunday as the musical St. Louis Woman (1946, published in 1971). Its score was composed by Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer , both white. The Broadway musical , set in a poor black neighborhood of St. Louis, Missouri ,

1224-477: Is basic to life as the corner stone or the fundamental of building home.) Similarly, in "Love's Way", Cullen's poem portrays a love that shares and unifies the world. The poem suggests that "love is not demanding, all, itself/ Withholding aught; love's is nobler way/ of courtesy" . In the poem, the speaker contends that "Love rehabilitates unto the end." Love fixes itself, regrows, and heals. Rose McClendon Rose McClendon (August 27, 1884 – July 12, 1936)

1292-493: Is ominous and leads to death. However, in general, the love extends not only to people but to natural elements such as plants, trees, etc. Many of the poems also link the concept of love to a Christian background. Yet, Cullen was also attracted to something both pagan as well as Christian. in one of his poems "One Day We Played a Game", the theme of love appears. The speaker calls: " 'First love! First love!' I urged". (The poem portrays love as necessary to continue in life and that it

1360-449: Is too expensive when it is worthy, and too cheap and boring when it is not. We know it too frequently as an investment for gambling show men, or as a playground for dilettantes and escapists who are unable to withstand the hard realities of life. We need a people's theatre which shall in effect be a national theatre. The people who want a theatre will have to organize it and pay a part of the expense for both its creation and support. Realizing

1428-738: The Town Hall in New York City, he gave a speech to the League of Youth in which he said, “For we must be one thing or the other, an asset or a liability, the sinew in your wing to help you soar, or the chain to bind you to earth.” The speech was later printed in The Crisis (August 1923). Also in 1923, Cullen won second prize in the Witter Bynner National Competitions for Undergraduate Poetry, sponsored by

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1496-496: The ANT also produced a weekly radio program in 1945, with a repertoire that spanned Shakespeare, Dickens and opera. It also ran the Studio Theatre school of drama under the leadership of Osceola Archer , one of the first Black actresses on Broadway. Many of her students later had careers in the performing arts, including television comediennes Helen Martin ( Good Times and 227 ), Emmy-winning Isabel Sanford ( All in

1564-620: The ANT put into rehearsal was On Strivers' Row , which Hill put into rehearsal after it had done so well with the Rose McClendon Players, who also held performances in Harlem. On Strivers' Row ran for five months and, in March 1941, Hill moved it to the Apollo Theater , where it ran for a week, as a musical with the lyrics of Don Burley , the music of J. P. Johnson , and the choreography of Leonard Harper . In 1944,

1632-560: The ANT submitted a proposal to the General Education Board of Rockefeller Center, explaining that their objectives were to develop (1) an Art, (2) a Vital Theatre and (3) Pride and Honor, and requesting funding for the salaries of the company's officers. The proposal resulted in a $ 22,000 grant-in-aid. These objectives were also printed on programs for ANT productions. The company's most successful production Anna Lucasta ultimately led to its demise. Anna Lucasta , which

1700-418: The ANT when he was given two tickets as a gratuity when working as a janitor's assistant for Clarice Taylor , who was in the play that night. Aside from teaching, Archer also directed plays for the ANT, most notably a 1948 command performance for First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt of an integrated production of Katherine Garrison Chapin 's play Sojourner Truth , featuring Belafonte and actress Jill Miller. Within

1768-834: The American Negro Theatre became one of the most influential black theater organizations of the 1940s," while also cultivating a generation of professional Black actors, directors and other artists in the performing arts who continue to influence the culture today. Hill and O'Neal quickly garnered support for the American Negro Theatre, which they dubbed the ANT to reinforce the idea of a hard-working interdependent community, by assembling several of their theatre friends, including: Howard Augusta, James Jackson, Virgil Richardson , Claire Leyba, Jefferson D. Davis, Vivian Hall, Austin Briggs-Hall, Stanley Green, Fanny McConnell, and Kenneth Manigault. Together, they organized ANT "as

1836-478: The American realist painter Michael Lenson , but that has not been verified. Five weeks later, the play opened on Broadway where it launched the career of Ruby Dee and scored star Alice Childress the first Tony nomination for a Black actress. Nine New York newspaper dailies reviewed the show. They all raved and producers instantly started fighting over who would get the rights to the play. Yordan agreed to sign

1904-731: The Book Cullen uses Greek methodology to explore race and identity and writes about Medusa , Theseus , Phasiphae , and the Minotaur . Although continuing to develop themes of race and identity in his work, Cullen found artistic inspiration in ancient Greek and Roman literature. Cullen was also influenced by the Romantics and studied subjects of love, romance, and religion. John Keats and Edna St. Vincent Millay both influenced Cullen's style of writing. In Caroling Dusk , an anthology edited by Cullen, he expands on his belief of using

1972-537: The Brown Girl (1927) and Copper Sun (1927) explored similar themes as Color , but they were not so well received. Cullen's Guggenheim Fellowship of 1928 enabled him to study and write abroad. Between the years 1928 and 1934, Cullen traveled back and forth between France and the United States. By 1929 Cullen had published four volumes of poetry. The title poem of The Black Christ and Other Poems (1929)

2040-459: The Family and The Jeffersons ), and Clarice Taylor ( Sanford and Son and The Cosby Show ); stage and screen couple Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee , movie actor Sidney Poitier , and singer-actor Harry Belafonte . In a 1996 interview with Cornel West , Belafonte described how the American Negro Theatre opened his eyes to how "magical" theatre was. Belafonte said that he saw his first show in

2108-404: The Federal Theatre Project, including Harry Edward, Carlton Moss and Edna Thomas . McClendon advised national director Hallie Flanagan that the project should begin under experienced direction and selected John Houseman to co-direct the unit. In December 1935, McClendon was forced to leave the cast of Langston Hughes's Mulatto after she became critically ill with pleurisy . McClendon

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2176-979: The Garrison Apartments . Jackman's diaries, letters, and outstanding collections of memorabilia are held in depositories across the country, such as the Amistad Research Center at Tulane University in New Orleans and Clark Atlanta University in Atlanta, Georgia. At Cullen's death, Jackman requested that his collection in Georgia be renamed, from the Harold Jackman Collection to the Countee Cullen Memorial Collection, in honor of his friend. After Jackman died of cancer in 1961,

2244-589: The Harlem Renaissance, Selections from the Work of Richard Bruce Nugent , there is no evidence that the men were lovers, despite newspaper stories and gossip suggesting the contrary. Scholars have not reached consensus on Cullen's sexuality. He married Ida Mae Roberson in 1940 and lived, apparently happily, with her until his death in 1946. In the early 1940s, they lived on Sugar Hill in West Harlem at

2312-560: The Harlem community and such prominent figures of the Renaissance as Duke Ellington and poet and playwright Langston Hughes. Ellington admired Cullen for confronting a history of oppression and shaping a new voice of “great achievement over fearful odds”. Cullen maintained close friendships with two other prominent writers, Hughes and Alain Locke. However, Hughes critiqued Cullen, albeit indirectly, and other Harlem Renaissance writers, for

2380-939: The Negro People's Theatre in Harlem. More than 4,000 people attended its first production, an adaptation of Clifford Odets ' Waiting for Lefty , and the group was organized in permanent form in June. The Negro People's Theatre directly inspired the Negro Theatre Unit of the Federal Theatre Project , which was created in 1935 under McClendon's supervision. Under her guidance units were created in Seattle, Hartford, Philadelphia, Newark, Los Angeles, Boston, Raleigh, Birmingham, San Francisco and Chicago as well as New York. She served as liaison to numerous organizations and individuals who became involved in

2448-630: The Poetry Society of America, for his book of poems titled, "The Ballad of the Brown Girl". Soon after, he was publishing poetry in national periodicals such as Harper's , The Crisis , Opportunity , The Bookman , and Poetry , earning him a national reputation. The ensuing year, he again placed second in the contest, finally winning first prize in 1925. He competed in a poetry contest sponsored by Opportunity and came in second with "To One Who Say Me Nay", losing to Langston Hughes 's " The Weary Blues ". Cullen graduated from NYU in 1925 and

2516-537: The Rose McClendon Memorial Collection of Photographs of Celebrated Negroes at Howard University . The collection is held in the prints and photographs department of Moorland–Spingarn Research Center . In 1950, the estate of McClendon's husband donated her scrapbooks to the New York Public Library . Two volumes dated 1916–34 include newspaper and magazine articles and reviews, programs, letters, telegrams and photographs. In 2021,

2584-484: The birds of Eden sang? One three centuries removed From the scenes his fathers loved, Spicy grove, cinnamon tree, What is Africa to me ? From "Heritage" The social, cultural, and artistic explosion known as the Harlem Renaissance was the first time in American history that a large body of literary, art and musical work was contributed by African-American writers and artists. Cullen

2652-1031: The collection at Clark Atlanta University was renamed as the Cullen-Jackman Collection to honor them both. The Harlem Renaissance movement was centered in the cosmopolitan community of Harlem, in New York City, which had attracted talented migrants from across the country. During the 1920s, a fresh generation of African-American writers emerged, although a few were Harlem-born. Other leading figures included Alain Locke ( The New Negro , 1925), James Weldon Johnson ( Black Manhattan , 1930), Claude McKay ( Home to Harlem , 1928), Langston Hughes ( The Weary Blues , 1926), Zora Neale Hurston ( Jonah's Gourd Vine , 1934), Wallace Thurman ( Harlem: A Melodrama of Negro Life , 1929), Jean Toomer ( Cane , 1923) and Arna Bontemps ( Black Thunder , 1935). Writers benefited from newly available grants and scholarships, and were supported by such established white writers as Carl Van Vechten . The Harlem Renaissance

2720-422: The constitution: A People's theatre is a very valuable institution. it provides the finest outlet for class emotions that can be organized. It serves as a spur to citizen ambition provides a partly self-supporting source of work and income, and a healthy kind of occupational therapy on a national scale for thousands. Unhappily, we have been trained to think of the theatre mostly in terms of commercial enterprise that

2788-551: The cost of the cultural conversion and religious conversion of his ancestors when they were away "torn from Africa". The Black Christ was a collection of poems published at the height of Cullen's career in 1929. The poems examine the relationship of faith and justice among African Americans. In some of the poems, Cullen equates the suffering of Christ in his crucifixion and the suffering of African Americans. This collection poems captures Cullen's idealistic aesthetic of race pride and religious skepticism. The Black Christ also takes

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2856-451: The end of his life, he taught English, French, and creative writing at Frederick Douglass Junior High School in New York City. During this period, he also wrote two works for young readers: The Lost Zoo (1940), poems about the animals who were killed in the Flood , and My Lives and How I Lost Them , an autobiography of his cat. Along with Herman W. Porter, Cullen also provided guidance to

2924-620: The free Uptown Shakespeare performances at Marcus Garvey Park" among its most important legacies. The assessment of the curators of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture at New York Public Library, which hosted ANT's 75th Anniversary in 2016 explained the ANT's importance by pointing out that ANT "sought to push the boundaries of black theatre ... experimenting with modernist theatrical tropes, and producing ambitious, original works by Black playwrights. Ultimately,

2992-426: The literary influence of William Wordsworth and William Blake , but its subject was far from the world of their Romantic sonnets. The poet accepts that there is God, and "God is good, well-meaning, kind", but he finds a contradiction in his own plight in a racist society: he is black and a poet. In 1926, Cullen graduated with a master's degree while also serving as the guest editor of a special "Negro Poets" issue of

3060-411: The narrative of their African-American lives. In "Heritage", Cullen grapples with the separation of his African culture and history created by the institution of slavery. To Cullen, Africa was not a place of which he had personal knowledge. It was a place that he knew through someone else's description, passed down through generations. Africa was a place of heritage. Throughout the poem, he struggles with

3128-495: The next few years, however, the ANT folded, a victim of repeated financial shortfalls and in-fighting over its mission in the wake of its Anna Lucasta success, for which its lead actress Alice Childress gained a Tony nomination for playing the title character. Theatre arts scholar Jonathan Shandell counts ANT's expansion of the "repertoire to include canonical black playwrights, use of a predominantly black cast and crew in all productions, and ... community outreach efforts, such as

3196-420: The poetry magazine, Palms . The appointment led to Harper's inviting him to edit an anthology of Black poetry in 1927. American writer Alain Locke helped Cullen come to terms with his sexuality. Locke wanted to introduce a new generation of African-American writers, such as Countee Cullen, to the reading public. Locke also sought to present the authentic natures of sex and sexuality through writing, creating

3264-446: The public by the African-American press. His father, Frederick A. Cullen, officiated at the wedding. The church was overcrowded, as 3,000 people came to witness the ceremony. After the newly wedded couple had a short honeymoon, Cullen traveled to Paris with his guardian/father, Frederick Cullen, and best man Jackman. Yolande soon joined him there, but they had difficulties from the first. A few months after their wedding, Cullen wrote

3332-455: The races closer together. Although race was a recurring theme in his works, Cullen wanted to be known as a poet not strictly defined by race. Cullen developed his Eurocentric style of writing from his exposure to Graeco-Roman Classics and English Literature, work he was exposed to while attending universities like New York University and Harvard. In his collection of poems To the Three for Whom

3400-555: The reader to see a harsh reality of Americas past time. "Heritage" is one of Countee Cullen's best-known poems published in this book. Although it is published in Color, it originally appeared in The Survey , March 1, 1925. Count Cullen wrote "Heritage" during a time when African-American artists were dreaming of Africa. During the Harlem Renaissance, Cullen, Hughes, and other poets were using their creative energy trying fuse Africa into

3468-524: The reason tortured Tantalus Is baited by the fickle fruit, declare If merely brute caprice dooms Sisyphus To struggle up a never-ending stair. Inscrutable His ways are, and immune To catechism by a mind too strewn With petty cares to slightly understand What awful brain compels His awful hand. Yet do I marvel at this curious thing: To make a poet black, and bid him sing! "Yet Do I Marvel" (1925) After graduating from high school, he attended New York University (NYU). In 1923, at

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3536-403: The reluctance of the people to assume this responsibility, the essential burden of stimulating the development of such a project rests upon the shoulders of those individuals who are willing to assume this obligation, those who feel sincerely the call in a genuine quest for the content of theatre art, and by their talent, industry, and profound respect for a theatre they shall create. (Selection

3604-494: The “desire to run away spiritually from [their] race”. Hughes condemned “the desire to pour racial individuality into the mold of American standardization, and to be as little Negro and as much American as possible.” Though Hughes critiqued Cullen, he still admired his work and noted the significance of his writing. What is Africa to me: Copper sun or scarlet sea, Jungle star or jungle track, Strong bronzed men, or regal black Women from whose loins I sprang When

3672-735: Was a central figure in Countee's life, and acted as his father. The influential minister eventually became president of the Harlem chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People ( NAACP ). Cullen entered the DeWitt Clinton High School , then located in Hell's Kitchen . He excelled academically at the school and started writing poetry. He won a citywide poetry contest. At DeWitt, he

3740-597: Was a leading African-American Broadway actress of the 1920s. A founder of the Negro People's Theatre, she guided the creation of the Federal Theatre Project 's African American theatre units nationwide and briefly co-directed the New York Negro Theater Unit. Rose McClendon was born as Rosalie Virginia Scott in Greenville, South Carolina , and as a child relocated to New York City . She started acting in church plays in her youth. She became

3808-573: Was at Fisk University and he was at NYU. Cullen's parents owned a summer home in Pleasantville, New Jersey near the Jersey Shore, and Yolande and her family were likely also vacationing in the area when they first met. While at Fisk, Yolande had had a romantic relationship with the jazz saxophonist Jimmie Lunceford . However, her father disapproved of Lunceford. The relationship ended after Yolande accepted her father's preference of

3876-587: Was at the epicenter of this new-found surge in literature. He considered poetry to be raceless. However, his poem "The Black Christ" took on a racial theme, exploring a black youth convicted of a crime he did not commit. "But shortly after in the early 1930s, his work was almost completely [free] of racial subject matter. His poetry instead focused on idyllic beauty and other classic romantic subjects." Cullen worked as assistant editor for Opportunity magazine, where his column, "The Dark Tower", increased his literary reputation. Cullen's poetry collections The Ballad of

3944-415: Was brought to Harlem at the age of nine by Amanda Porter, believed to be his paternal grandmother, who cared for him until her death in 1917. Reverend Frederick A. Cullen , pastor of Salem Methodist Episcopal Church , Harlem's largest congregation, and his wife, the former Carolyn Belle Mitchell, adopted the 15-year-old Countee Porter, although the adoption may not have been official. Frederick Cullen

4012-664: Was criticized by black intellectuals for creating a negative image of black Americans. In another stretch, Cullen translated the Greek tragedy Medea by Euripides , which was published in 1935 as The Medea and Some Poems , with a collection of sonnets and short lyrics. Several years later, Cullen died from high blood pressure and uremic poisoning on January 9, 1946, aged 42. He is buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in The Bronx , New York City . The Countee Cullen Library ,

4080-412: Was criticized for its use of Christian religious imagery; Cullen compared the lynching of a black man to the crucifixion of Jesus. As well as writing books, Cullen promoted the work of other black writers. But by 1930 his reputation as a poet had waned. In 1932, his only novel was published, One Way to Heaven , a social comedy of lower-class blacks and the bourgeoisie in New York City. From 1934 until

4148-487: Was elected into the honor society, was editor of the weekly newspaper, and was elected vice-president of his graduating class. In January 1922, he graduated with honors in Latin, Greek, Mathematics, and French. "Yet Do I Marvel" I doubt not God is good, well-meaning, kind, And did He stoop to quibble could tell why The little buried mole continues blind, Why flesh that mirrors Him must someday die, Make plain

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4216-547: Was in another Paul Green play on Broadway, The House of Connelly , which was the first production by the Group Theatre , directed by Lee Strasberg . She drew critical praise for her portrayal of Phyllis in Annie Nathan Meyer 's Black Souls at Broadway's Provincetown Playhouse in 1932. McClendon was a contemporary of Paul Robeson , Ethel Barrymore , Lynn Fontanne and Langston Hughes , who created

4284-574: Was influenced by a movement called Négritude , which represents "the discovery of black values and the Negro’s awareness of his situation". Cullen saw Negritude as an awakening of a race consciousness and black modernism that flowed into Harlem. Cullen's poetry "Heritage" and "Dark Tower" reflect ideas of the Negritude movement. These poems examine African roots and intertwine them with a fresh aspect of African-American life. Cullen's work intersects with

4352-481: Was inspired by Eugene O'Neil 's Anna Christie , was "originally conceived as the story of a sordid, impoverished Polish family in a small Pennsylvania town," but Yordan could not find a company to perform it, so he rewrote it to feature a Black family, and it was performed by the ANT in 1944. According to a notice in the Brooklyn Eagle on March 30, 1944, the sets for that initial production were designed by

4420-716: Was limited by availability.) Countee Cullen Countee Cullen (born Countee LeRoy Porter ; May 30, 1903 – January 9, 1946) was an American poet, novelist, children's writer, and playwright, particularly well known during the Harlem Renaissance . Countee LeRoy Porter was born on May 30, 1903, to Elizabeth Thomas Lucas. Due to a lack of records of his early childhood, historians have had difficulty identifying his birthplace. Baltimore, Maryland , New York City , and Louisville, Kentucky have been cited as possibilities. Although Cullen claimed to have been born in New York City, he also frequently referred to Louisville, Kentucky , as his birthplace on legal applications. Cullen

4488-500: Was one of eleven students selected to Phi Beta Kappa . That same year, Cullen entered Harvard to pursue a master's in English, and published Color , his first collection of poems that later became a landmark of the Harlem Renaissance . Written in a careful, traditional style, the work celebrated black beauty and deplored the effects of racism. The volume included "Heritage" and " Incident ", probably his most famous poems. "Yet Do I Marvel", about racial identity and injustice, showed

4556-591: Was to have portrayed Lady Macbeth in Orson Welles 's Federal Theatre Project production of Macbeth (1936), but due to her continuing illness Edna Thomas played the role. Her condition later developed into pneumonia , and McClendon died at her home on July 12, 1936. After McClendon's death in 1936, Dick Campbell, her Negro People's Theater co-founder, formed the Rose McClendon Players in her honor. In 1946, Carl Van Vechten established

4624-441: Was unsure of this himself. Cullen's first marriage, to Yolande Du Bois , experienced difficulties before ending in divorce. He subsequently had relationships with many different men, although each ended poorly. Each relationship had a sense of shame or secrecy, such as his relationship with Edward Atkinson. Cullen later married Ida Robertson while potentially in a relationship with Atkinson. Letters between Cullen and Atkinson suggest

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