Countee Cullen was born in 1903. No one knows for sure where he was born. After his father abandoned the family, his mother turned him over to his grandmother to raise. Shortly before his grandmother died, whe he was fifteen, his grandmother turned him over to the pastor of the Salem Methodist Episcopal Church - Rev.Frederick Cullen and his wife. In their home Countee was exposed to the values, mannners, and refinement of Harlem's black bourgeois elite. Consequently, he became a polished gentleman.
As a teenager in high school his gift for writing poetry was recognized and honored by the school newspaper. Also, as a high school student he became cognizant of his inclination towards homosexuality.
Countee left high school and went on to graduate  Phi Beta Kappa from New York University in 1925. The following year he received a master's degree from Harvard.
Countee won many poetry awards including the Witter Bynner prize, The Amy Spingarn Award, the John Reed prize for poetry, and a Guggenheim fellowship. Also, he was published in several prominent white magazines.
Countee did not revel in the title "Negro" poet, he wanted to be known as a poet. Yet the titles of his poems referred to color and race. And his works were used as tools to instill black pride. Some say he received attention only  because he was a "Negro poet."
In 1928 Countee married the daughter of W.E.B. DuBois.  The wedding was a major media event in Harlem. But it was just a show.  After the wedding Countee went to Paris with his male lover.  The marriage was dissolved in less than a year.
When he returned to America the Harlem Renaissance was  dying as was his fame. He became a high school teacher at his  old high school and wrote children books about his pet cat.
In 1946 Countee Cullen died at the age of 42 of  high blood pressure and uremic  poisoning.
Countee Cullen was called a literary genius and the darling of the Harlem Renaissance. In his honor the New York  City library named it's 135th branch, The Countee Cullen Branch.