Countee Cullen's Baltimore

Black
History Month always brings back memories and lines from some of my favorite poets and writers from the Harlem
Renaissance. During this 1920’s artistic movement poets like Langston Hughes, James Weldon Johnson, and Claude McKay
along with several others created the first large body of work in the United States written by African Americans. One
of my most favorite poets of the time being Countee
Cullen
, whom I can relate to on many platforms often molded his pieces from his own and the collective African
American identity. In his lifetime he had many works published and one the that always sticks out most is a poem titled
Incident.

In his short poem of time spent from May to December Cullen recounts his only
memory, riding around in Old Baltimore when a young Baltimorean about the same age as he, poked out his tongue and from
his lips tumbled a racial slur. As a child I’m sure this was very scarring to the poet and for many during that time or
anytime for that matter. Unlike Cullen, I choose to keep my negative experiences abroad from lyrical prose and place
them at the very bottom of my travel memories, reflecting mostly on the good. At the most I’ve spent no more than eight
hours in Baltimore and for no real good reason other than limited time. During that trip I took a quick run through the
National Great Blacks in Wax Museum. Though I can’t remember if Countee
Cullen is included in any of the exhibits it makes for a great stop in your own B-more travels in exploring Black
History during the month.