Langston Hughes

James Mercer Langston Hughes (February 1, 1901 – May 22, 1967) was an American poet, writer, and activist from Joplin, Missouri. He helped create jazz poetry and was a key figure in the Harlem Renaissance.

Hughes grew up in the Midwest and started writing when he was young. He moved to New York City and studied at Columbia University but left before finishing. He began writing for The Crisis magazine and later published his first book of poems, The Weary Blues, in 1926. He finally graduated from Lincoln University.

Besides poetry, Hughes wrote plays, stories, novels, and nonfiction books. During the civil rights movement, he wrote a weekly column for The Chicago Defender from 1942 to 1962.

Ancestry and childhood

Langston Hughes came from a family of mixed backgrounds. His ancestors included both African Americans and people from Europe. His family had a strong history of fighting for equal rights.

Hughes spent much of his childhood in Lawrence, Kansas, mostly raised by his grandmother. She taught him important lessons about standing up for what is right. After she passed away, he lived with friends and later with his mother in different cities, including Cleveland, Ohio. Hughes started writing poetry and stories when he was very young, and his teachers encouraged him to keep writing.

Education

Langston Hughes had a difficult relationship with his father and rarely saw him when he was young. After finishing high school in 1920, Hughes moved to Mexico to live with his father. He hoped to get help to attend Columbia University. His father wanted him to study engineering, but agreed to pay for Columbia if Hughes studied engineering there. Hughes started at Columbia in 1921.

While at Columbia, Hughes wrote poetry and published it under a pen name. He felt uncomfortable because of racism from other students and teachers. He liked spending time in Harlem and writing poetry more than his studies, so he left Columbia in 1922. He traveled to West Africa and Europe, working on a ship and staying in Paris for a while. Later, he returned to the U.S. to live with his mother in Washington, D.C.. He worked different jobs before going to Lincoln University, a historically black university, where he earned a degree in 1929. After that, he lived mostly in Harlem for the rest of his life.

Sexuality

Some writers think Langston Hughes may have had special feelings for other men. His poems, like those of Walt Whitman, show this. His story "Blessed Assurance" mentions a father upset about his son's behavior.

One biographer thinks Hughes kept his private life hidden to keep support from black churches and stay financially stable. His poem 'Café: 3 AM' speaks out against unfair treatment of people based on who they love. Some believe his work shows interest in African-American men, but his true feelings remain unclear and are still talked about today. His main biographer suggests he may not have been interested in romantic or sexual relationships at all.

Career

Langston Hughes started writing when he was young and became famous for his poetry. His first poem, "The Negro Speaks of Rivers," was published in 1921 in The Crisis, a magazine of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. This poem was very popular and appeared in his first book of poetry, The Weary Blues, in 1926.

Hughes was an important part of the Harlem Renaissance, a time when many African American artists and writers created great work. He and his friends wanted to show the true lives of black people and celebrate their culture and identity.

In 1927, Hughes traveled through the Southern U.S. and met other writers. He learned about the lives of black people there, which changed his views and inspired more of his writing. His works often showed the struggles and joys of black families and their pride in their heritage.

Hughes wrote many types of pieces—poems, stories, plays, and more. He wanted to help people understand and respect the experiences of black Americans. Even as times changed, Hughes remained a strong voice for his community and inspired many other writers.

Political views

Langston Hughes wrote about fairness and equality in the 1930s. He traveled to the Soviet Union to work on a film about Black life in the United States, but the film was never made. During this time, he visited many places and met different people.

Hughes wrote poems and articles supporting equal rights. He traveled to Spain and wrote about his experiences. He believed fighting for fairness at home was important. Later in his life, Hughes focused more on writing poetry about his feelings rather than taking a strong political side.

Death and Legacy

Langston Hughes passed away on May 22, 1967, in New York City after surgery. He was 66 years old.

His ashes rest under a special floor design at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem. The design is called Rivers and comes from one of his famous poems.

Hughes' home in Harlem became a special place to visit in 1981. It is now a museum where people can learn about and celebrate his work. There is also a high school named after him in South Fulton, Georgia, which opened in 2009.

Representation in other media

Langston Hughes's work appeared in many different kinds of art. In 1959, he shared his poetry on an album called Weary Blues with music by Charles Mingus and Leonard Feather. In 1960, he helped write words for a music piece by Randy Weston called Uhuru Afrika.

His life and work have been shown in movies and plays. A film from 1989 called Looking for Langston talked about him. Other films have also shown him played by actors. Plays have been written about his life, too. In 2009, a special music event at Carnegie Hall performed one of his poems with new music. In 2016, his poem "I, Too" was printed in a big newspaper.

Literary archives

The Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library at Yale University has many papers and items from Langston Hughes. These include letters, manuscripts, personal things, photos, and artworks. Other places, like the Langston Hughes Memorial Library at Lincoln University and the James Weldon Johnson Collection at Yale, also have his work. The Moorland–Spingarn Research Center at Howard University has materials from his travels, thanks to Dorothy B. Porter.

Honors and awards

Langston Hughes received many awards for his writing. In 1926, he won the Witter Bynner Undergraduate Poetry Prize. He also received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1935, which let him travel to Spain and Russia. Over the years, Hughes was given many honorary degrees and special medals.

After Hughes passed away, many places and honors were created in his memory. Schools were named after him, his home in Harlem became a landmark, and his picture appeared on a postage stamp. Google created a special drawing to celebrate his birthday in 2015.

Published works

Other writings

Langston Hughes wrote many books and articles. Some of his well-known works include The Langston Hughes Reader from 1958, Good Morning Revolution: Uncollected Social Protest Writings by Langston Hughes from 1973, and The Collected Works of Langston Hughes from 2001. He also wrote letters that were published in a book in 2014. Two of his famous articles are "My Adventures as a Social Poet" and "The Negro Artist and The Racial Mountain".