Facts and Information About Langston Hughes: Poet of the Harlem Renaissance

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Abraham Lincoln declared that all slaves should be free men and women as of Jan 1, 1863. Forty years later the life of the African American, called Negros in those days, was a life of drudge, desperation and despair. The American Dream floated past them leaving them untouched. On February 1, 1902, in Joplin, Missouri, was a born a poet who would use his pen to tell the world in simple plain language the story of the everyday life of the black American.

‘Wash, iron, scrub, Walk the dog around, It was too much, Nearly broke me down’ goes a line from the poem, ‘Madam and Her Madam’ written by African American poet James Mercer Langston Hughes.

Langston Hughes parents James Hughes and Carrie Langston separated soon after he was born. His father moved to Mexico and as his mother was travelling she left James in the care of his maternal grandmother, in Joplin. He stayed with her till her death when he was thirteen and then joined his mother in Lincoln, Illinois.

Langston Hughes’ talent as a poet surfaced while he was in school. He contributed to his school literary magazine on a regular basis. At school he was exposed to the works of Walt Whitman, Carl Sandberg and Paul Lawrence Dunbar who had a great impact on his young mind. In later years he credits these three poets with being his primary inspiration.

After graduating in 1920, he went to Mexico and spent a year with his father. During this period, he caught the public eye when his poem ‘The Negro Speaks of Rivers’ was published in ‘The Crisis’ in 1921. It was well received and acclaimed by the critics.

Returning to the United States, Langston Hughes joined the University of Columbia. During his brief stay at the University he was introduced to the cultural movement of Harlem, also called the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920’s. His works were instrumental in shaping the artistic direction of the movement. His style differed from the other poets of the movement in that they were expressing their individual experience, but his works told the story of the African people, their suffering and dreams, and their enduring love of music, laughter and of language.

‘Hold fast to dreams, For if dreams die Life is a broken-winged bird That cannot fly’.

The poems were simple but serious, tinged with a little wry humour, and written to appeal to his people. They could identify with his language and themes, attitudes and ideas, the only qualification required was simply the ability to read. The poet eschewed the obscure and esoteric trends of his contemporaries and spoke directly to the people. This endearing trait made him one of the most commercially successful poets of his times.

In a poem entitled ‘Let America be America Again’ he writes:

“There’s never been Equality for me, Nor freedom in this ‘Homeland of the Free’ “

Fortunately for the poet America became America again and he got his lucky break when, working as a busboy in Washington DC, he met Vachel Lindsey, who was so impressed with his poems that he used his considerable influence to promote his works.

His poem ‘The Weary Blues’ won the first prize in the literary Competition of Opportunity magazine. He received a scholarship to Lincoln University, Pennsylvania where novelist and critic Carl Van Lincoln took him under his wing.

Langston Hughes first book of poetry was published by Knopf in 1926. He won acclaim for his poetic style and his commitment to the culture of Black America.

Langston Hughes literary skills were not limited to poetry. He was a novelist and playwright as well. In addition he was a war correspondent for many newspapers during the Spanish Civil War. He regularly wrote a column in the Chicago Defender. This column was very popular as it was a humorous social comment on the life of the urban working class Black American. The central character Jesse B Semple was so popular that Langston Hughes wrote a series of books about ‘Simple’ as Semple came to be called.

His two autobiographies ‘The Big Sea’ (up to age 28) and ‘I Wonder as I Wander’ were very successful, but his biggest commercial success came when he wrote the lyrics for the Broadway production ‘Street Scene’.

Langston Hughes died on May 22, 1967. His funeral was filled with jazz and blues music as a tribute to his engagement with theses music forms.

His ashes are interred in Harlem, at the entrance to the Arthur Schomburg Centre for Research in Black Culture.

The inscription is a line from ‘The Negro Speaks of Rivers’. It reads:

My soul has grown deep like the rivers.

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