Countee Cullen Publishes 'Color'—A Landmark of Harlem Renaissance Poetry

Countee Cullen published 'Color' in 1925, his debut poetry collection, which won the Harmon Foundation Literary Award and established him as one of the foremost poets of the Harlem Renaissance. Cullen's formal sonnets and odes addressed Black identity, racial pride, and the tension between American and African heritage in ways that appealed to both Black and white literary audiences. He had already won national poetry awards as a student at New York University.