Cullen receives the Harmon Foundation literary award
Poet involved
What happened
In January 1927 Countee Cullen received the William E. Harmon Foundation’s first award in literature at a ceremony at St. Mark’s Church in New York City. The prize recognised distinguished achievement by a Negro writer and confirmed the standing he had won with Color. The honour came in the same crowded year as Copper Sun and the anthology he was then editing.
Literary impact
The Harmon prize fixed Cullen, still in his mid-twenties, as the official lyric voice of the Harlem Renaissance. It also deepened the pressure to remain exemplary, a burden that later complicated his wish to be read simply as a poet among poets.
Source: Wikipedia
