A full-length, critical biography examining the life and work of the poet and literary giant of the Harlem Renaissance. While competing with Langston Hughes for the title of “Poet Laureate of Harlem,” Countée Cullen (1903–46) crafted poems that became touchstones for American readers, both black and white. Inspired by classic themes and working within traditional forms, Cullen shaped his poetry to address universal questions like love, death, longing, and loss while also dealing with the issues of race and idealism that permeated the national conversation. Drawing on the poet’s unpublished correspondence with contemporaries and friends like Hughes, Claude McKay, Carl Van Vechten, Dorothy West, Charles S. Johnson and Alain Locke, and presenting a unique interpretation of his poetic gifts, And Bid Him Sing is the first full-length critical biography of this famous American writer. Despite his untimely death at the age of forty-two, Cullen left behind an extensive body of work. In addition to five books of poetry, he authored two much-loved children’s books and translated Euripides’ Medea, the first translation by an African American of a Greek tragedy. In these pages, Charles Molesworth explores the many ways that race, religion, and Cullen’s sexuality informed the work of one of the unquestioned stars of the Harlem Renaissance. An authoritative work of biography that brings to life one of the chief voices of his generation, And Bid Him Sing returns to us one of America’s finest lyric poets in all of his complexity and musicality. Praise for And Bid Him Sing “At last! One can only be grateful to Charles Molesworth for this concise yet comprehensive biography of Countée Cullen, the shooting star of the Harlem Renaissance. This book sets the facts straight about a man whose childhood and inner life have been obscure despite his fame. More importantly, Molesworth reveals the complex intersections of racial loyalty and aestheticism, spirituality and sexuality, representativeness and individuality in the life and work of Harlem’s black prodigy, one of America’s most admired poets of the 1920s.” —George B. Hutchinson, author of The Harlem Renaissance in Black and White “Cullen was a commanding literary figure whose accomplishments have often been diminished in studies of the Harlem Renaissance that emphasize his role as an antitype to Langston Hughes. Charles Molesworth rights this wrong in his fine biography whose subject is not only the struggles and triumphs of a singular American poet, but also the exciting social and literary world that produced him.” —Emily Bernard, author of Carl Van Vechten and the Harlem Renaissance

Combining both political and social concern, this collection of essays, talks and reviews by Dr. February covers a remarkable range of subject matter, knowledge and expertise, surrounding South Africa And Bid Him Sing consists of a series of lectures, first delivered at various institutes of higher learning in Africa, Europe and the United States of America between 1971 and 1985. These essays all reflect the author’s involvement with African literature and culture and deep interest in colonial processes. The research links the history of the Afrikaner’s freedom struggle - against British imperialism - and of the Africans’ Soweto protest of 1976.

Autobiographical novel about black radicalism of African American expatriates in Cairo, Egypt, in the 1960s.

Includes Cullen's poetry and prose, essays from The Crisis magazine, the complete text of his novel "One Way to Heaven", and an interview.

The Crisis, founded by W.E.B. Du Bois as the official publication of the NAACP, is a journal of civil rights, history, politics, and culture and seeks to educate and challenge its readers about issues that continue to plague African Americans and other communities of color. For nearly 100 years, The Crisis has been the magazine of opinion and thought leaders, decision makers, peacemakers and justice seekers. It has chronicled, informed, educated, entertained and, in many instances, set the economic, political and social agenda for our nation and its multi-ethnic citizens.

This classic study of American Black poetry, first published in 1939 and long out of print, is the work of perhaps the pre-eminent figure in Black Studies of the past two generations. A major contribution to the history of Black thought in America, it ranges widely, beginning in the late eighteenth century with Jupiter Hammon, the first American Black writer, and ending in the 1930s with Countee Cullen and Langston Hughes.

EBONY is the flagship magazine of Johnson Publishing. Founded in 1945 by John H. Johnson, it still maintains the highest global circulation of any African American-focused magazine.