Langston Hughes

1388 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Langston hughes poems about african american struggle

Langston Hughes

Langston Hughes was one of the first black men to express the spirit of blues and jazz

into words. An African American Hughes became a well known poet, novelist, journalist, and

playwright.

Because his father emigrated to Mexico and his mother was often away, Hughes was

brought up in Lawrence, Kansas, by his grandmother Mary Langston. Her second husband

(Hughes's grandfather) was a fierce abolitionist. She helped Hughes to see the cause of social

justice.

As a lonely child Hughes turned to reading and writing, publishing his first poems while

in high school in Cleveland, Ohio. In 1921 he entered Columbia University, but left after an

unhappy year. Even as he worked as a delivery man, a messmate on ships to Africa and Europe,

a busboy, and a dishwasher, his poetry appeared regularly in such magazines as The Crisis

(NAACP) and Opportunity (National Urban League).1 As a poet, Hughes was the first person to

combine the traditional poetry with black artistic forms, especially blues and jazz.

As a leader in the Harlem Renaissance of the twenties and thirties Hughes became the

movements best known poet. He published two poetry collections, The Weary Blues (1926) and

Fine Clothes to the Jew (1927).2 Mainly because of the depression Hughes became a socialist in

the 1930s. He never joined the Communist party, but he wrote many radical poems and essays in

magazines like New Masses and International Literature and spent a year in the Soviet Union.

In 1939 Hughes moved away from the political scene. During the war he supported the

Allies with patriotic songs and sketches and published a collection of poems Shakespeare in

Harlem (1942). He attacked segregation, especially in his column in t...

... middle of paper ...

...be a black person in his time. He used his Poetry in sense to speak out against racism. African American Voices.Conneticutt:The Millbrook Press, 1995

Adventures in American Literature. Chicago: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc., 1980

Langston Hughes. We Too Sing America. G. Casey Cassidy.Online. Yale New Haven Teachers

Institute. 1998

Langston Hughes. The Influence of Musical Folk Traditions in the Poetry of Langston Hughes

and Nicolás Guill. Kathryn Gray.online. Yale New Haven Teachers Institute.1998

Langston Hughes. Langston Hughes.online. Biography Online.1997

Langston Hughes.Hughes Life and Career .Arnold Rampersad.online. Oxford University Press.

1997

The New Modern American and British Poetry. New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1939

Show More
Related

  • Langston Hughes

    1152 Words  | 3 Pages

    James Langston Hughes was born on February 1, 1902, in Joplin, Missouri. He was named after his father, but it was later shortened to just Langston Hughes. He was the only child of James and Carrie Hughes. His family was never happy so he was a lonely youth. The reasons for their unhappiness had as much to do with the color of their skin and the society into which they had been born as they did with their opposite personalities. They were victims of white attitudes and discriminatory laws. They moved to Oklahoma in the late 1890s. Although the institution of slavery was officially abolished racial discrimination and segregation persisted.

    Read More

  • James Weldon Johnson

    395 Words  | 1 Pages

    One of his most famous poems was "Lift Every Voice and Sing." His brother later added music to the poem. It is considered to be the unofficial "Negro National Anthem". It was a bold piece of work that spoke of the struggle of the African American in America and his optimistic hope for a better future.

    Read More

  • Life and Work of Langston Hughes

    1965 Words  | 4 Pages

    Hughes mother went through protracted separations and reconciliations in her second marriage (she and her son from this marriage would live with him off and on in later years. He was raised by alternately by her, by his maternal grandmother, and, after his grandmother’s death, by family friends. By the time he was fourteen, he had lived in Joplin; Buffalo; Cleveland; Lawrence, Kansas; Mexico City; Topeka, Kansas; Colorado Springs; Kansas City; and Lincoln, Illinois. In 1915, he was class poet of his grammar-school graduating class in Lincoln. From 1916 to 1920, he attended Central High School in Cleveland, where he was a star athlete, wrote poetry and short stories (and published many of them in the Central High Monthly), and on his own read such modern poets as Paul Laurence Dunbar, Edgar Lee Masters, Vachel Lindsay, and Carl Sandburg. His classmates were for the most part the children of European immigrants, who treated him largely without discrimination and introduced him to leftist political ideas.

    Read More

  • The Harlem Renaissance

    641 Words  | 2 Pages

    All in all, the Harlem Renaissance was a black cultural movement that took place in the North, particularly in Harlem. Many African Americans stood out including Langston Hughes, Marcus Garvey, and W.E.B. Du Bois. They were all different kinds of artists who were a part of the Great Migration. These artists traveled from the South and other parts if the world to the North because of the increase in black population and culture. Each one of them made a large impact on the Harlem Renaissance and changed black culture forever.

    Read More

  • Langston Hughes

    619 Words  | 2 Pages

    Langston Hughes is a key figure in the vision of the American dream. In his writings, his African-American perspective gives an accurate vision of what the American dream means to a less fortunate minority. His poetry is very loud and emotional in conveying his idea of the African-American dream. Most of his poetry either states how the black man is being suppressed or is a wish, a plea for equality. He does not want the black man to be better than everyone else, but just to be treated equally.

    Read More

  • Langston Hughes Essay

    523 Words  | 2 Pages

    During the early to mid-twentieth century Langston Hughes contributed vastly to a very significant cultural movement later to be named the “Harlem Renaissance.” At the time it was named the “New Negro Movement,” which involved African Americans in creating and expressing their words through literature and art. Hughes contributed in a variety of different aspects including plays, poems, short stories, novels and even jazz. He was even different from other notable black poets at the time in the way that he shared personal experiences rather than the ordinary everyday experiences of black America. His racial pride helped mold American politics and literature into what it is today.

    Read More

  • Langston Hughes and Poetry

    2394 Words  | 5 Pages

    “Poetry is the rhythmical creation of beauty in words.” –Edgar Allan Poe. Poetry is one of the world’s greatest wonders. It is a way to tell a story, raise awareness of a social or political issue, an expression of emotions, an outlet, and last but not least it is an art. Famous poet Langston Hughes uses his poetry as a musical art form to raise awareness of social injustices towards African-Americans during the time of the Harlem Renaissance. Although many poets share similarities with one another, Hughes creatively crafted his poetry in a way that was only unique to him during the 1920’s. He implemented different techniques and styles in his poetry that not only helped him excel during the 1920’s, but has also kept him relative in modern times. Famous poems of his such as a “Dream Deferred,” and “I, Too, Sing America” are still being studied and discussed today. Due to the cultural and historical events occurring during the 1920’s Langston Hughes was able to implement unique writing characteristics such as such as irregular use of form, cultural and historical referenced themes and musical influences such as Jazz and the blues that is demonstrative of his writing style. Langston Hughes use of distinct characteristics such as irregular use of form, cultural and historical referenced themes and musical influences such as Jazz and the blues helped highlight the plights of African-Americans during the Harlem Renaissance Era.

    Read More

  • Langston Hughes Biography Essay

    565 Words  | 2 Pages

    Like most, the stories we hear as children leave lasting impacts in our heads and stay with us for lifetimes. Hughes was greatly influenced by the stories told by his grandmother as they instilled a sense of racial pride that would become a recurring theme in his works as well as become a staple in the Harlem Renaissance movement. During Hughes’ prominence in the 20’s, America was as prejudiced as ever and the African-American sense of pride and identity throughout the U.S. was at an all time low. Hughes took note of this and made it a common theme to put “the everyday black man” in most of his stories as well as using traditional “negro dialect” to better represent his African-American brethren. Also, at this time Hughes had major disagreements with members of the black middle class, such as W.E.B. DuBois for trying to assimilate and promote more european values and culture, whereas Hughes believed in holding fast to the traditions of the African-American people and avoid having their heritage be whitewashed by black intellectuals.

    Read More

  • Langston Hughes

    2529 Words  | 6 Pages

    Hughes started writing poetry when he was in Lincoln (“Langston Hughes”). After graduating from high school, Hughes spent a year in Mexico followed by a year at Columbia University in New York City. During this time, he acquired menial jobs but, when he moved to Washington D.C. in November 1924, Alfred A. Knopf, published his first book The Weary Blues.... ... middle of paper ... ...

    Read More

  • Langston Hughes And The Harlem Renaissance

    634 Words  | 2 Pages

    During the 1920's and 30’s, America went through a period of astonishing artistic creativity, the majority of which was concentrated in one neighborhood of New York City, Harlem. The creators of this period of growth in the arts were African-American writers and other artists. Langston Hughes is considered to be one of the most influential writers of the period know as the Harlem Renaissance. With the use of blues and jazz Hughes managed to express a range of different themes all revolving around the Negro. He played a major role in the Harlem Renaissance, helping to create and express black culture. He also wrote of political views and ideas, racial inequality and his opinion on religion. I believe that Langston Hughes’ poetry helps to capture the era know as the Harlem Renaissance.

    Read More

  • Comparing The Poetry Of Langston Hughes And Countee Cullen

    521 Words  | 2 Pages

    This period was considered a golden age in African American culture. The Harlem Renaissance was a time where the African American people were able to express themselves through many different art forms. Among these art forms were music, dance, and poetry. Among these poets were, Langston Hughes and Countee Cullen.

    Read More

  • Biography of Langston Hughes

    1369 Words  | 3 Pages

    Langston Hughes was probably the most well-known literary force during the Harlem Renaissance. He was one of the first known black artists to stress a need for his contemporaries to embrace the black jazz culture of the 1920s, as well as the cultural roots in Africa and not-so-distant memory of enslavement in the United States. In formal aspects, Hughes was innovative in that other writers of the Harlem Renaissance stuck with existing literary conventions, while Hughes wrote several poems and stories inspired by the improvised, oral traditions of black culture (Baym, 2221). Proud of his cultural identity, but saddened and angry about racial injustice, the content of much of Hughes’ work is filled with conflict between simply doing as one is told as a black member of society and standing up for injustice and being proud of one’s identity. This relates to a common theme in many of Hughes’ poems: that dignity is something that has to be fought for by those who are held back by segregation, poverty, and racial bigotry.

    Read More

  • Langston Hughes

    1517 Words  | 4 Pages

    James Langston Hughes was born February 1, 1902, in Joplin , Missouri . His parents divorced when he was a small child, and his father moved to Mexico . He was raised by his grandmother until he was thirteen, when he moved to Lincoln , Illinois , to live with his mother and her husband, before the family eventually settled in Cleveland , Ohio . It was in Lincoln , Illinois , that Hughes began writing poetry. Following graduation, he spent a year in Mexico and a year at Columbia University . During these years, he held odd jobs as an assistant cook, launderer, and a busboy, and travelled to Africa and Europe working as a seaman. In November 1924, he moved to Washington , D.C. Hughes's first book of poetry, The Weary Blues, was published by Alfred A. Knopf in 1926. He finished his college education at Lincoln University in Pennsylvania three years later. In 1930 his first novel, Not Without Laughter, won the Harmon gold medal for literature.

    Read More

  • The Harlem Renaissance

    786 Words  | 2 Pages

    Langston Hughes, a primary voice of the Harlem Renaissance in the 1920's, was known as "The Poet Laureate of Harlem". Hughes had pride in his black heritage, strong political beliefs, and the will to survive in a society where racial equality had to be fought for. Hughes' strength and determination shine through his poetry, he does not hide the fact that he lived with racism, but talks of his strength and to st...

    Read More

  • Racial Inequality in 'Harlem' by Langston Hughes

    911 Words  | 2 Pages

    Langston Hughes was part of the Harlem Renaissance, but he always felt like an outsider due to his light brown skin tone and the races within his family. He felt a part of the black community, because he was surrounded by mostly black people his whole life. He had Native American, White American and African American mixed in his bloodline, but after the separation of his parents he lived with his African American grandmother. He had to deal with a lot growing up, with his family being torn apart and also being a biracial child.

    Read More

More about Langston Hughes

Open Document