Blacks that Traveled: Countee Cullen

I don’t recall the first time I read Countee Cullen’s poems, but during that time I latched on to a few that struck me hard immediately. Whether I had experienced something similar or marveled at his writing style, Cullen became one of my favorite poets of the Harlem Renaissance. Born in Louisville, Kentucky, Cullen was raised by Elizabeth Porter until her death in 1908. He was then raised by the Rev. & Mrs. Frederick Cullen of a NYC Methodist Episcopal Church. A full bio can be found here. Below you’ll find one of my favorite poems. In this piece Cullen shares a travel experience that was memorable due more so to one negative moment rather than the whole several months he spent there as a child.

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.