Showing results by author "Countee Cullen" in All Categories

The intellectual and cultural revival of African-American arts and politics in the 1920s and 1930s was centered in Harlem, Manhattan, New York City. Here are poems from three major contributors to that rebirth: The Weary Blues by Langston Hughes, The Heart of a Woman and Other Poems by Georgia Douglas Johnson, and Copper Sun by Countee Cullen, delivered by three multiaward–winning narrators.

Countee Cullen was already a prominent literary figure when he published Color, his auspicious debut collection of poetry. In deceptively simple verse, and in harmony with lyric tradition rather than rebellion against it, Cullen covered such complex terrain as race, faith, mortality, sexuality, and identity. Cullen may be less well known today than his contemporaries, but his emotional candor, creative ambition, and impudent humor retain an unforgettable spark.

Hear rare recordings from five of the most-respected African American poets reading their own works: Langston Hughes, "The Negro Speaks of Rivers"; Arna Bontemps, "Nocturne At Bethesda"; Countee Cullen, "Heritage"; Gwendolyn Brooks, "The Vacant Lot"; and Sonia Sanchez, "Black Magic".