Visions and Voices

The biographical film of Langston Hughes is both informative and entertaining. It approaches Hughes’s life with insightful observations from the people that personally knew him. The film goes into detail on his family background and early life before his poetic success, and continues through his life in Harlem, his literary achievements, and legacy.The film has interesting facts that were unknown to me previous to my viewing. For example, the historical relatives described in the biography gave more insight on the motivation of Hughes to make an impact in the culture or history of African-Americans.Other than insight, the movie was entertaining because of the creative structure of the film’s format. The combination of jazz and blues music, actual pictures and film footage, recitations of Hughes poetry, and images of the Harlem Renaissance make a profound impact when attempting to understand the life Langston Hughes came from and lived, as well as feeling the emotion in his literary works.Hughes achievements are extraordinary and his life was remarkable. His ability to overcome obstacles such as the lack of family and financial support are admirable. He stands as a role model for a younger generation of writers.

Countee Cullen (Porter) was considered by many to be the most talented of the Harlem Renaissance poets. Cullen was a novelist and a playwright, but he was known by most as a poet. He was born on March 30, 1903 in New York.  Not much is known of the early years of his childhood up until 1918.Between the time of Cullen’s birth 1918 he was adopted by Rev. Frederick and Carolyn Bell (Mitchell) Cullen of the Salem Methodist Episcopal Church in Harlem. It is unknown how old Cullen was when he got adopted by 1921, he changed his last name to Cullen, from his adopted mothers last name.Rev. Cullen regained Countee Cullen’s faith back in himself by getting him to understand that any goal or dream that he had to fulfill it. He attended De Witt Clinton High School between (1918-1921).
During this time he was editor of his schools newspaper and of the magazine Magpie, and during High School he wrote his first poetry that received notice. He also attended New York University for four years.Countee received much help both mentally and physically from his adopted father, it is said that if Countee would not have been adopted by the Reverend he would not have gone as far as he eventually did.Countee Cullen was considered one of the most talented of the Harlem Renaissance poets. A lot of his poetry was written during his high school and college years. During high school Cullen won his first contest,a citywide competition, with the poem “I Have a Rendezvous with Life,”a non-racial poem. Cullen was also the editor of his high school paper and a literary magazine Magpie. He furthered his wisdom and education at New York university, where he joined an all white fraternity called Phi Beta Kappa Honors. Cullen was awarded the Wittier Bynner Poetry Prize for his expressive culture oriented poetry. During his college career he created the book Color for which he won the Harmon Foundations first gold medal for literature.His poems had a direct relationship to the Harlem Renaissance, his poems either included ideological aspects and culture aspects.