Cullen’s Black Christ

-=< O >=-

Heading home
on a cool crisp
day in October
,
lost
in
thought
…

Suddenly, out of
the corner of my eye,
I see a black shape
hanging from
a tree
.
My
heart is
already racing
as I realize it is just
a decoration for
Halloween
.
A big black
plastic spider
hanging from
a lower limb
.
Not scary
at all
.

So I’m
relieved, but
a little disturbed
that my mind had
immediately jumped
to the worst option
imaginable
.
A distant echo
of Billie Holidays’
“Strange Fruit” playing
in the dim recesses, which
has left a permanent
impression on me
…

-=< O >=-

Which
brings us to
Countee Cullen’s

Black Christ

Countee Cullen
was a poet of the
Harlem Renaissance,
which was a neighborhood
in New York that became a
cultural mecca for black
writers, actors, artists
and musicians
.

Cullen
saw it as an
awakening of a
race consciousness
and black modernism,
but he also believed that
poetry surpassed race
and that it could be
used to bring the
races closer
together
.
Cullen’s
book of poetry
The Black Christ 
was published
in 1929 at the
height of his
career
.
Probing
the relationship of
faith and justice among
African Americans
,
this
poem
involves
a black youth
convicted of a crime
he did not commit
.

…
but
I don’t want
to write too much
about Countee
(the poet)
,
the intent
of this article
was to highlight
the artist!

-=< O >=-

Countee Cullen’s
poetry books were
illustrated by

Charles Cullen

(who was not
related to him)

The
title page
refers to them
as ‘Decorations’,
which seems
humorous
to me
.

-=< O >=-

Here are two
‘decorations’ for
the central poem

The Black Christ

-=< O >=-

-=< O >=-

-=< O >=-

I’m more
impressed by
the decorations
than by the
poetry
.

-=< O >=-

And the King
will answer them,
‘Truly, I say to you, as
you did it to one of
the least of these
my brothers,
you did it
to me.’

Matthew 25:40

-=< O >=-

Charles illustrated
three other books
of poetry by
Countee,
…
another
poetry publication
Ebony and Topaz,
…
and sections of
Walt Whitman’s
Leaves of Grass.

Thanks,
Charles!

-=< O >=-

What made this
a more difficult
search
???

There’s
a modern
artist with the
same name
,
and
an even
more infamous
Charles Cullen who
was a prolific
serial killer
!!!

-=< O >=-