Incident

The poetry collection Color, which includes “Incident,” shows the influence of the Harlem Renaissance on Cullen’s work. Also known as the “Negro Renaissance,” the Harlem Renaissance was the literary part of the New Negro Movement, which emphasized the need for self-determination and full civil rights for Black Americans.

Literary critics frequently identify the start of the Harlem Renaissance as March 21, 1924, the date of the Urban League Civic Club Dinner. At the dinner, a who’s who of Black elites, white publishers, and New York philanthropists gathered to celebrate Black American writers. Speakers and attendees asked that young Black writers use their considerable talents to advance the cause of Black civil rights, that white publishers give Black artists a platform to do this work, and that philanthropists serve as patrons for Black art. Cullen was one of the readers who shared his work at the dinner, leading to the opportunity to publish his work as a part of The Survey magazine’s special graphic edition on Harlem, which served as the announcement of the movement’s arrival.

“Incident” shows the influence of the Harlem Renaissance in both its form and content. Formally, Cullen relies on the English ballad, exemplifying the call for Black poetry that could provide a “demonstration of intellectual parity by the Negro through the production of literature and art” (Johnson, James Weldon. Preface to Book of Negro American Poetry. Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1924). Despite the traditional form, the poem’s sympathetic portrayal of a Black child encountering racism for the first time is an intervention in that literary tradition, which frequently ignores race.