Langston+Hughes

= **James Langston Hughes** =

February 1, 1902 May 22, 1967 Born in Joplin, Missouri, James Langston Hughes was a member of an abolitionist family. He was the great-great-grandson of Charles Henry Langston, brother of John Mercer Langston, who was the first Black American to be elected to public office, in 1855. Hughes attended Central High School in Cleveland, Ohio, but began writing poetry in the eighth grade, and was selected as Class Poet. His father didn't think he would be able to make a living at writing, and encouraged him to pursue a more practical career. He paid his son's tuition to Columbia University on the grounds he study engineering. After a short time, Langston dropped out of the program with a B+ average; all the while he continued writing poetry. ²
 * //Birth//**
 * //Death//**
 * __Biography__**

Disgusted with life at the university and to see the world, he enlisted as a steward on a freighter bound to West Africa. He traveled to Paris, worked as a doorman and a bouncer of a night club, and continued to Italy.

After his return to the United States, Hughes worked in menial jobs and wrote poems, which earned him scholarship to Lincoln University in Pennsylvania. According an anecdote, Hughes was "discovered" by the poet Vachel Lindsay in Washington. Lindsay was dining at the Wardman Park Hotel, where Hughes worked as a busboy, and dropped his poems beside the Lindsay's dinner plate. Lindsay included several of them in his poetry reading. It prompted interviews of the "busboy poet". Hughes quit his job and moved to New York City. ⁵

He was supported by a patron of the arts, a wealthy white woman in her seventies named Charlotte Osgood Mason. Mason directed Hughes's literary career, convincing him to write the novel //Not Without Laughter//; the two had a dispute in 1930, however, and the relationship came to an end. At this point in Hughes's life he turned to the political left and began to develop his interest in socialism. He published poetry in //New Masses//, a journal associated with the Communist Party, and in 1932 sailed to the Soviet Union with a group of young African Americans. Later in the 1930s, Hughes's primary writing was for the theater. His drama about miscegenation and the South - "Mulatto" - became the longest running Broadway play written by an African American until Lorraine Hansberry's "A Raisin in the Sun" (1958).

In 1942, during World War II, Hughes began writing a column for the African American newspaper, the //Chicago Defender//. In 1943 he introduced the character of Jesse B. Semple, or Simple, to his readers. This fictional everyman, while humorous, also allowed Hughes to discuss very serious racial issues. The Simple columns were also popular--and they ran for twenty years and were collected in several books.

Money was a nagging concern for Hughes throughout his life. While he managed to support himself as a writer, no small task, he was never financially secure. In 1947, however, through his work writing the lyrics for the Broadway musical "Street Scene," Hughes was finally able to earn enough money to purchase a house in Harlem, which had been his dream. He continued to write: "Montage of a Dream Deferred," one of his best known volumes of poetry, was published in 1951; and from that time until his death sixteen years later he wrote more than twenty additional works. ³

Langston Hughes died of cancer on May 22, 1967. His residence at 20 East 127th Street in Harlem, New York has been given landmark status by the New York City Preservation Commission. His block of East 127th Street was renamed "Langston Hughes Place". ² Throughout his lifetime, his work encompassed both popular lyrical poems, and more controversial political work, especially during the thirties. He expressed a direct and sometimes even pessimistic approach to race relations, and he focused his poems primarily on the lives of the working class. When he writes that an artist must be unafraid, in “The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain,” he is not only defending the need for his own work, but calling forth the next generation of poets, not only giving them permission to write about race, but charging them with the responsibility of writing about race. ¹
 * //__Race & Politics__//**

"We younger Negro artists now intend to express our individual dark-skinned selves without fear or shame. If white people are pleased we are glad. If they aren't, it doesn't matter. **We know we are beautiful**. And ugly too... If colored people are pleased we are glad. If they are not, their displeasure doesn't matter either. We build our temples for tomorrow, as strong as we know how and **we stand on the top of the mountain, free within ourselves**."

//“The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain”//

His main concern was the uplift of his people, of whom he judged himself the adequate appreciator, and whose strengths, resiliency, courage, and humor he wanted to record as part of the general American experience. Thus, his poetry and fiction centered generally on insightful views of the working class lives of blacks in America, lives he portrayed as full of struggle, joy, laughter, and music. Permeating his work is pride in the African American identity and its diverse culture. "My seeking has been to explain and illuminate the Negro condition in America and obliquely that of all human kind," Hughes is quoted as saying. Therefore, in his work he **confronted racial stereotypes, protested social conditions, and expanded African America’s image of itself**; a **//“people’s poet”//** who sought to reeducate both audience and artist by **lifting the theory of the black aesthetic into reality**. ⁴

Hughes realized that "the period [the Harlem Renaissance] was perceived by many to have been defined more by white desire for Black culture than by its impact on the lived experiences of African Americans” as noted by Dr. Sheila Smith-McKoy. He sparked arguably the first real movement towards breaking the mold of a dominant white influence which had been supported by several artists of the Harlem Renaissance in order to gain social change. ”Hughes was unashamedly black at a time when blackness was out of fashion” emphasizing **//black is beautiful//**. ⁴

//The big sea, an autobiography.// 1940. NY: Hill and Wang, 1963. PS3515.U274 Z5; //I Wonder As I Wander//, 1956.
 * __Bibliography__** ⁶
 * Autobiography:**

//The Ways of White Folks,// 1934 //Simple Speaks His Mind,// 1950 //Laughing to Keep from Crying,// 1952 //Simple Takes a Wife,// 1953 //Simple Stakes a Claim,// 1957 //Tambourines to Glory,// 1958 //The Best of Simple,// 1961 //Simple's Uncle Sam,// 1965 //The Simple Omnibus,// 1978 //Not Without Laughter,// 1979 //Laughing to Keep from Crying and 25 Jesse Simple Stories,// 1981 //The Best of Simple,// 1988 //Popo and Fifina,// 1993 //The Return of Simple,// 1994 //Short Stories,// 1996
 * Fiction:**

//The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain,// 1926 //Proletarian Literature in the United States,// 1935 //A New Song,// 1938 //The Sweet Flypaper of Life,// 1955 //The First Book of Africa,// 1960 //Fight for Freedom,// 1962 //Something in Common and Other Stories,// 1963 //A Pictorial History of Blackamericans,// 1983 //African American History: Four Centuries of Black Life,// 1990 //Black Magic: The Pictorial History of the African-American in the Performing Arts,// 1990 //Thank You, M'am,// 1991 //A Pictorial History of Black Americans,// 1995
 * Nonfiction:**

//The Weary Blues,// 1926 //Fine Cloths to the Jew,// 1927 //Four Negro Poets,// 1927 //Anthology of Magazine Verse for 1928: And Yearbook for American Poetry,// 1928 //Scottsborro Limited: Four Poems and a Play in Verse,// 1932 //Shakespear in Harlem,// 1942 //Freedom's Plow,// 1943 //Fields of Wonder,// 1947 //One-Way Ticket,// 1948 //Montage of a Dream Deferred,// 1951 //Selected Poems of Langston Hughes,// 1959 //Ask Your Mama: 12 Moods for Jazz,// 1961 //Black Misery,// 1969 //The Panther and the Lash: Poems of Our Times,// 1969 //Selected Poems of Langston Hughes,// 1974 //The Panther and the Lash,// 1992 //Black Misery,// 1994 //The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes,// 1994 //The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes,// 1995 //The Pasteboard Bandit,// 1997
 * Poetry:**

//The collected poems of Langston Hughes.// Ed. Arnold Rampersad. NY: Vintage Books, 1995. PS3515 .U274 A17

//The Negro Mother and Other Dramatic Recitations,// 1931 //Mule-Bone// (with Zora Neale Hurston), 1932 //Mulatto,// 1935 //Little Ham,// 1936 //When the Jack Hollers,// 1936 //Don't You Want to Be Free?,// 1937 //Soul Gone Home,// 1937 //Emperor of Haiti,// 1938 //Front Porch,// 1939 //Street Scene: an Opera in Two Acts//, 1947 //The Sun Do Move,// 1942 //Troubled Island: An Opera in Three Acts//, 1949 //Simply Heavenly,// 1957 //Five Plays,// 1963 //Jericho-Jim Crow//, 1964 //Three Negro Plays,// 1987 //Black Nativity,// 1992
 * Opera and Drama:**

Duffy, Susan. ed. //The political plays of Langston Hughes.// Carbondale: Southern Illinois UP, 2000. PS3515.U274 A6

//The poetry of the Negro, 1746-1970.// An anthology edited by Langston Hughes and Arna Bontemps. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1970. PN6109.7 .H8
 * Collected Works:**

//Arna Bontemps-Langston Hughes letters, 1925-1967.// Selected and edited by Charles H. Nichols. NY: Dodd, Mead, 1980. PS3503.O474 Z486

//Langston Hughes and the Chicago defender: essays on race, politics, and// //culture, 1942-62.// Ed. Christopher C. De Santis. Urbana: U of Illinois P, 1995.PS3515 .U274 A6

//The political plays of Langston Hughes.// ed. Susan Duffy. Carbondale: Southern Illinois UP, 2000.

//Remember me to Harlem: the letters of Langston Hughes and Carl Van Vechten.// Ed. Emily Bernard. NY: Vintage Books, 2002. PS3515 .U274 Z598  The collected works of Langston Hughes //.// ed. Arnold Rampersad. Columbia: U of Missouri P, 2001-. PS3515 .U274 2001. The CSUS Library Has: v.1-v.10. //1.// //The Poems: 1921-1940// //2.// //The Poems: 1941-1950// 3. //The Poems: 1951-1967// 4. //The Novels: Not without Laughter and Tambourines to Glory// 5. //The Plays to 1942: Mulatto to The Sun Do Move// 6. //Gospel Plays, Operas, and Later Dramatic Works// 7. //The Early Simple Stories// 8. //The Later Simple Stories// 9. //Essays on Art, Race, Politics, and World Affairs// 10. //Fight for Freedom and Other Writings on Civil Rights// 11. //Works for Children and Young Adults: Poetry, Fiction and Other Writing// 12. //Works for Children and Young Adults: Biographies// 13. //Autobiography: The Big Sea// 14. //Autobiography: I Wonder As I Wander// 15. //The Translations: Federico García Lorca, Nicolás Guillén, and Jacques// //Roumain// Forthcoming: //An Annotated Bibliography of the Works of Langston Hughes//

//The Harlem Renaissance and beyond [videorecording].// Mt. Kisco, N.Y.: Guidance Associates, 1990. Video Cassette PS508 .N3 H37x
 * Videos/Audios:**

//Langston Hughes [videorecording]: the dream keeper.// South Carolina Educational Television Network, a New York Center for Visual History production. Santa Barbara: Intellimation, 1988. Video Cassette PS305 .V65x 1988 no.6

//A Meditation on LH and the Harlem Renaissance: With the Poetry of Essex// //Hemphill and Bruce Nugent.// Sankofa Film and Video. NY: Water Bearer Films, 1992

Dace, Tish. ed. //Langston Hughes: The Contemporary Reviews.// NY: Cambridge UP, 1997. PS3515 .U274 Z6732
 * Selected Bibliography**: **Critical 1980-1999**

Haskins, James. //Always Movin' On: The Life of Langston Hughes.// Trenton: Africa WorldP, 1993. PS3515 .U274 Z656

McLaren, Joseph. //Langston Hughes, folk dramatist in the protest tradition,// //1921-1943.// Westport, Conn: Greenwood P, 1997. PS3515 .U274 Z678

Mullen, Edward J., ed. //Critical Essays on LH.// Boston: G.K. Hall, 1986. PS3515 .U274 Z618

Ostrom, Hans A. //Langston Hughes: A Study of the Short Fiction.// NY: Twayne, 1993. PS3515 .U274 Z689

Rampersad, Arnold. //The Life of LH.// 2 vols. NY: Oxford UP, 1986-1988. PS3515 .U274 Z698 Tracy, Steven C. //Langston Hughes & the Blues.// Urbana: U of Illinois P, 1988. PS3515 .U274 Z8

Bernard, Emily. ed. //Remember me to Harlem: the letters of Langston Hughes// //and Carl Van Vechten.// NY: Vintage Books, 2001. PS3515 .U274 Z598
 * Selected Bibliography**: **Critical 2000-Present**

Comprone, Raphael. //Poetry, Desire, and Fantasy in the Harlem Renaissance.// Lanham, MD: UP of America, 2006.

Duffy, Susan. ed. //The Political Plays of Langston Hughes.// Carbondale: Southern Illinois UP, 2000.

Grandt, Jürgen E. //Kinds of Blue: The Jazz Aesthetic in African American// //Narrative.// Columbus: Ohio State UP, 2004.

Jarraway, David R. //Going the Distance: Dissident Subjectivity in Modernist// //American Literature.// Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana State UP, 2003.

Lackey, Michael. //African American Atheists and Political Liberation: A Study of// //the Sociocultural Dynamics of Faith.// Gainesville: UP of Florida, 2007.

Miller, R. Baxter. //The Art and Imagination of Langston Hughes.// Lexington: UP of Kentucky, 2006.

Richards, Phillip M. //Black Heart: The Moral Life of Recent African Amer/ican// //Letters.// NY: Peter Lang, 2006.

Saul, Scott. //Freedom Is, Freedom Ain't: Jazz and the Making of the Sixties.// Cambridge: Harvard UP, 2003.

Schwarz, A. B. Christa. //Gay Voices of the Harlem Renaissance.// Bloomington: Indiana UP, 2003.

Scott, Jonathan. //Socialist Joy in the Writing of Langston Hughes.// Columbia: U of Missouri P, 2006.

Smith, Katharine C. //Children's Literature of the Harlem Renaissance.// Bloomington, IN: Indiana UP, 2004.

Westover, Jeffrey W. //The Colonial Moment: Discoveries and Settlements in// //Modern American Poetry.// DeKalb, IL: Northern Illinois UP, 2004.

Wheeler, Lesley. //Voicing American Poetry: Sound and Performance from the// //1920s to the Present.// Ithaca, NY: Cornell UP, 2008.

Witalec, Janet, and Trudier Harris-Lopez. eds. //Harlem Renaissance: A Gale// //Critical Companion.// Detroit, MI: Gale, 2002.

¹ __An Introduction to Langston Hughes__. Poets.org: from the Academy of American Poets. [] ² Jackson, Andrew P. __James Langston Huges (1902 – 1967)__. Jazz is Timeless Records. [] ³ __Langston Hughes Biography__. Kansas Heritage Group. Native Voices International. [] ⁴ __Langston Hughes__. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 8 Dec. 2009. [] ⁵ Liukkonen, Petri. __Langston Hughes (1902 – 1967)__. 2008. [] ⁶ Reuben, Paul P. "Chapter 9: Langston Hughes " //PAL: Perspectives in American Literature- A Research and Reference Guide//. []
 * __Works Cited__**