Color

No discussion of the Harlem Renaissance is complete without poet Countee Cullen. Writing and publishing at the height of the renaissance, Cullen was a key figure in this literary movement. At the age of twenty-two, Cullen published Color, his very first collection of poetry. Within the context of the 1920s, Cullen’s choice to publish Color through the mainstream publisher Harper & Brothers underscores Cullen’s desire to gain recognition as simply a poet and not with the caveat of being a black poet.