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Countee Cullen was one of the celebrated and influential poets of the Harlem Renaissance. Born in 1903 as Countee LeRoy Porter to parents that abandoned him, he was raised by his grandmother. It is unclear where he was born, some say Kentucky, others say Baltimore or Louisiana. However, this is all speculation, and according to Cullen himself, he was born in New York City, or at least his spirit was. Countee Cullen received attention for his poems from a young age, and it continued throughout his schooling, especially during his time at New York University, and later when he went on to complete a Masters degree at Harvard University. In 1925, shortly after he graduated from NYU, his works were published for the first time. The collection of poems, called "COLOR" included works celebrating blacks and their heritage.

The book included some of his greatest poems, including probably his most famous,"Yet Do I Marvel." He often touched upon racial themes but wasn't overly controversial; he wrote in a romantic-based, sonnet form. Throughout his life he published over six volumes of poems, including two for younger readers,a novel, and he even did some work at the end of his life for the theater, adapting novels into plays. Cullen died in 1946 of Uremic poisoning.

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One of the most iconic novels of the Harlem Renaissance period was the highly acclaimed and controversial "Their Eyes were Watching God" by Zora Neale Hurston. This novel, published in 1937, was by no means Hurston’s first piece of writing. In fact, before Their Eyes were Watching God”, she published several poems and books. Her birthplace, like Countee Cullens, is also not definitely known, but most believe she came from and was brought up in either Florida or Alabama, but she created her life’s work in none other than New York’s Harlem. Also like Cullen, Hurston built herself up and received an excellent education from Morgan, Howard and then Barnard Colleges, where she distinguished herself at each. Hurston became interested in ethnology and anthropology while at Barnard, and wrote about her love for culture

and literature. Upon graduation she found a patron named Rufus Osgood Mason, but this woman didn’t allow Hurston to publish anything! So shortly thereafter, she left Mason and published her works on her own. She did, and her popularity peaked with "Their Eyes were Watching God", which was deemed not fit for typical African stories and critics sais it would not appeal to whites. Today, this novel is considered a classic, and in 2005, was adapted into a movie by Oprah Winfrey’s Harpo productions. Zora Neale Hurston’s last novel was published in 1948, and after that she faded into the background. She died in 1960 in Florida, impoverished, but today, her legacy lives on.