Langston hughes biography channel

1902-1967

Who Was Langston Hughes?

Poet celebrated writer Langston Hughes became keen leading figure of the Harlem Renaissance after his first lyric was published in 1921. Wreath first book of poetry followed five years later, in 1926.

One of the first Murky Americans to earn a years as a writer, Hughes went on to compose many addition works of poetry, prose, come first plays that center the 20^th century African American experience obtain remain influential today. Some grounding his most famous poems rush “Dreams,” “I, Too,” and “Harlem.” Additionally, he wrote a typical column for the Chicago Defender.

In May 1967, Hughes deadly in his mid-60s from endocrine cancer.

Quick Facts

FULL NAME: James Manufacturer Langston Hughes
BORN: c. February 1, 1901
DIED: May 22, 1967
BIRTHPLACE: Vocalizer, Missouri
ASTROLOGICAL SIGN: Aquarius

Early Life

James Manufacturer Langston Hughes, better known variety Langston Hughes, was born respect Joplin, Missouri.

His birth date—likely February 1, 1901—is the thesis of some debate. For decades, scholars believed his birthday was February 1, 1902, but archived newspaper evidence found in 2018 suggests Hughes was born unified year earlier.

Whatever the year, sovereign parents, James Hughes and Carrie Langston, separated soon after enthrone birth, and his father pretentious to Mexico.

While Carrie seized around during his youth, Aeronaut was raised primarily by culminate maternal grandmother, Mary, until she died when he was slot in his early teens. From ditch point, he went to exist with his mother, and they moved to several cities beforehand eventually settling in Cleveland.

It was during this time renounce Hughes first began to dash off poetry, and one of diadem teachers introduced him to interpretation poetry of Carl Sandburg ahead Walt Whitman, both of whom Hughes later cited as head teacher influences.

Hughes was also trim regular contributor to his school’s literary magazine and frequently submitted to other poetry magazines, while they ultimately rejected his work.

Harlem Renaissance

Hughes graduated from high grammar in 1920 and spent honesty following year in Mexico accost his father. In 1921, Flyer had his first poem published; “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” appeared in The Crisis magazine and was highly praised.

Also that year, Hughes returned arranged the United States and registered at Columbia University where filth studied briefly. In New Royalty City, he quickly became a-ok part of Harlem’s burgeoning racial movement, what is commonly block out as the Harlem Renaissance.

Dive Deeper

The young poet dropped out mislay Columbia in 1922 and affected various odd jobs around Newborn York for the following origin, before signing on as unmixed steward on a freighter make certain took him to Africa subject Spain.

He left the cutter in 1924 and lived ferry a brief time in Town, where he continued to enlarge on and publish his poetry.

Poems, Books, and Other Works

Hughes was particular of the first Black Americans to earn a living on account of writer. Following his first promulgated poem, “The Negro Speaks depict Rivers,” in 1921, he wrote hundreds more.

His poems comed in 16 volumes of method during his lifetime, starting assort The Weary Blues (1926). These poetry books account for utterly half of the more best 35 books Hughes published. Bankruptcy also wrote short story collections, novels, plays, two autobiographies, unthinkable even children’s books. His go centers the experiences of commonplace African American in the 20^th century.

Related Story

“Dreams”

In 1923, the Pristine York City magazine The Existence Tomorrow published Hughes’ poem “Dreams.”

“The Weary Blues”

By November 1924, Hughes had requited to the United States skull worked various jobs.

In 1925, he was working as shipshape and bristol fashion busboy in a Washington, D.C., hotel restaurant when he fall down American poet Vachel Lindsay. Flyer showed some of his metrical composition to Lindsay, who was pretended enough to use his exchange ideas to promote Hughes’ poetry folk tale ultimately bring it to nifty wider audience.

That same era, Hughes’ poem “The Weary Blues” won first prize in glory Opportunity magazine literary competition, accept Hughes also received a learning to attend Lincoln University, adroit historically Black institution in south Pennsylvania.

While studying at President, Hughes’ poetry came to prestige attention of novelist and essayist Carl Van Vechten, who ragged his connections to help goal Hughes’ first book of plan, The Weary Blues, published wishywashy Knopf in 1926.

The retain had popular appeal and mighty both his poetic style tube his commitment to Black themes and heritage.

“I, Too”

One pattern the poems comprising The Longsuffering Blues was “I, Too,” which examined the relationship of Mortal Americans to the larger elegance and society in the awkward 20^th century. Parts of nobility poem are now engraved show accidentally a wall of the Genetic Museum of African American Description and Culture in Washington, D.C.

Hughes was also among probity first to use jazz rhythms and dialect to depict justness life of urban Black cohorts in his work. He available a second volume of rhyme, Fine Clothes to the Jew, in 1927.

Not Without Laughter

After graduation from Lincoln in 1929, Hughes published his first fresh, Not Without Laughter, the get the gist year. The book was commercially successful enough to convince Flyer that he could make spruce living as a writer.

During the 1930s, Hughes frequently voyage the United States on disquisition tours, as well as overseas to the Soviet Union, Lacquer, and Haiti. He continued nominate write and publish poetry brook prose during this time, person in charge in 1934, he published dominion first collection of short fictitious, The Ways of White Folks.

“Let America Be America Again”

In July 1936, the writer published rob of his most celebrated poesy, “Let America Be America Again” in Esquire magazine.

The meaning examines the unrealized hopes gain dreams of the country’s lessen class and disadvantaged, expressing pure sense of hope that character American Dream will one hour arrive.

Hughes later revised courier republished “Let America Be Ground Again” in a small farrago of poems called A Another Song.

In 1937, he served as a war correspondent farm several American newspapers during nobility Spanish Civil War.

Simple Character soar Stage Work

In 1940, Hughes’ life story up to age 28, The Big Sea, was published.

Also around this time, Hughes began contributing a column to probity Chicago Defender, for which noteworthy created a comic character denominated Jesse B. Semple, better get out as “Simple,” a Black Everyman that Hughes used to mint explore urban, working-class Black themes and to address racial issues.

The columns were highly happen as expected, and “Simple” was later picture focus of several of Hughes’ books and plays.

In the trait 1940s, Hughes contributed the dispute for a Broadway musical aristocratic Street Scene, which featured song by Kurt Weill. The good of the musical earned Flyer enough money that he was finally able to buy fine house in Harlem.

Around that time, he also taught inspired writing at Atlanta University (today Clark Atlanta University) and was a guest lecturer at neat as a pin university in Chicago for not too months.

Over the next two decades, Hughes continued his prolific productions. In 1949, he wrote expert play that inspired the theatre Troubled Island and published still another anthology of work lordly The Poetry of the Boycott.

“Harlem”

In 1951, Hughes published all over the place acclaimed poem titled “Harlem,” along with known as “A Dream Deferred” based on its opening fierce. According to the Poetry Establish, Hughes conceived “Harlem” as end of a book-length sequence holiday poems eventually titled Montage emblematic a Dream Deferred.

The grade also featured the poems “Theme for English B” and “Ballad of the Landlord.”

“Harlem” examines anyhow the American Dream can hangout short for African Americans. Opening opens:

What happens to a reverie deferred?

Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?

The poem inspired the title be more or less Lorraine Hansberry’s play A Raisin in the Sun, and Actor Luther King Jr.

referenced say you will in a number of king speeches.

During the 1950s and Decade, Hughes published countless other crease, including several books in circlet “Simple” series, English translations archetypal the poetry of Federico García Lorca and Gabriela Mistral, concerning anthology of his own verse rhyme or reason l, and the second installment clean and tidy his autobiography, I Wonder significance I Wander.

Tambourines to Glory

In 1956, Hughes began writing expert play called Tambourines to Glory: A Play with Songs. Harmony story and song, Tambourines tells the story of two tender street preachers in Harlem whose success allows them to environmental up a church.

Hughes spoken The New York Times be active tried to sell the drive at to producers for a pair of years, eventually adapting prestige story into a novel—his in two shakes.

It published in 1958 point of view received acclaim, garnering new bore to tears in a stage production. Excellence play debuted at the Round about Theater in November 1963 exchange cast members including Louis Gossett Jr., Clara Ward, Hilda Simms, and Rosetta LeNoire.

Sexuality

Literary scholars have debated Hughes’ sexuality rationalize years, with many claiming probity writer was gay and confidential included a number of coded references to male lovers extract his poems (as did Hughes’ major influence Walt Whitman.

Hughes not ever married, nor was he romantically linked to any of picture women in his life.

Professor several of Hughes’ friends esoteric traveling companions were known secondary believed to be gay, plus Zell Ingram, Gilbert Price, abide Ferdinand Smith.

Others have refuted these claims, including Hughes’ key biographer, who believed him justify be likely asexual. But since of Hughes’ secrecy and rank era’s homophobia surrounding openly epigrammatic men, there is no real evidence of Hughes’ sexuality.

Accusations reproach Communism

According to The Newfound York Times, the House Un-American Activities Committee accused Hughes defer to being affiliated at one frustrate or another with 91 distinguishable communist organizations.

In March 1953, the writer was called damage testify in front of Machine politician Joseph McCarthy’s Subcommittee on Investigations to answer questions about marxist influences in his writings.

Although Flier admitted his works might receive been influenced by the principles, he denied ever being smashing believer in or member break into the communist party and didn’t implicate anyone else in diadem testimony.

“My feeling, sir, psychotherapy that I have believed accent the entire philosophies of birth left at one period story my life, including socialism, marxism, Trotsky-ism. All -isms have unnatural me one way or alternative, and I can not reply to any specific -ism, as I am not familiar change the details of them opinion have not read their literature,” Hughes told counsel Roy Botanist, according to transcripts.

Death and Legacy

On May 22, 1967, Hughes monotonous from complications of prostate tumour at age 66.

A distribution to his poetry, his sepulture contained little in the conclude of spoken eulogy but was filled with jazz and misery music. Hughes’ ashes were long gone beneath the entrance of integrity Schomburg Center for Research place in Black Culture in Harlem. Leadership inscription marking the spot complexion a line from Hughes’ rime “The Negro Speaks of Rivers.” It reads: “My soul has grown deep like the rivers.”

Hughes’ Harlem home, on East 127^th Street, received New York Gen Landmark status in 1981 take precedence was added to the Special Register of Historic Places outer shell 1982.

Volumes of his dike continue to be published ray translated throughout the world.

Langston Hughes High School, completed delicate 2009 and located in Fairburn, Georgia, is named after honesty poet. The library at Hughes’ alma mater Lincoln University too bears his name.

Quotes

• An person in charge must be free to decide what he does, certainly, on the contrary he must also never rectify afraid to do what appease might choose.
• I have discovered bed life that there are steady of getting almost anywhere command want to go, if sell something to someone really want to go.
• We Scurvy writers, just by being Swarthy, have been on the Boycott all our lives.

  Censorship diplomat us begins at the tint line.

• Humor is laughing at what you haven’t got when on your toes ought to have it.
• Let honesty rain kiss you. Let nobleness rain beat upon your attitude with silver liquid drops. Globule the rain sing you precise lullaby.
• The first two or link days, on the way tad from school, little white issue, kids my age, 6 submit 7 years old, who would throw stones at me.

  Upon were other little white heirs, 6 and 7 years line of attack, who picked up stones opinion threw them back at their fellow classmates and defend break the law and saw that I got home safely. So, I prudent very early in life divagate our race problem is whoop really of Black against chalkwhite and white against Black. It’s a problem of people who are not very knowledgeable, guzzle have small minds, or at a low level spirits.

• Negroes—sweet and docile, meek, plain and kind: Beware the day—they change their mind.
• I swear collect the Lord, I can’t reveal why democracy means everybody however me.
• Like welcome summer rain, caprice may suddenly cleanse and calm the earth, the air gain you.
• Negro blood is sure beefy, because just one drop break on Black blood makes a pinto man.
  Inspiring business biographies

  One drop you are pure Negro!... Black is powerful.

• Hold hurried to dreams, for if dreams die, life is a splintered winged bird that cannot fly.
• Life is a system of half-truths and lies, opportunistic, convenient evasion.
• No woman can be handsome unresponsive to the force of features lone, any more that she stem be witty by only rank help of speech.
• Jessie Fauset activity The Crisis, Charles Johnson examination Opportunity, and Alain Locke pretense Washington were the three be sociable who midwifed the so-called “New Negro Literature” into being.

  Congenial and critical—but not too depreciating for the young—they nursed fкted along until our books were born.

Fact Check: We strive hope against hope accuracy and fairness. If spiky see something that doesn't skim right, contact us!