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.

Filed under: Arts and Culture, History, Learning, Stories