The Life and Works of Langston Hughes

686 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Introduction to Harlem Renaissance by Langston Hughes

James Mercer Langston Hughes, commonly known as Langston Hughes, was an influential African American writer during the 1920s, a time marked by pervasive racial discrimination. He is best known for his contributions to the Harlem Renaissance. Despite a difficult childhood, Hughes overcame his struggles and became a renowned poet of the Renaissance, a legacy that will continue to inspire future generations. Langston Hughes was born on February 1, 1902, in Joplin, Missouri. His parents, James Hughes and Carrie Langston, divorced when he was very young. Following the divorce, his father moved to Cuba, and his mother moved in search of a job. As a result, Langston was raised by his maternal grandmother until she passed away when he was in his early teens. For the next two years, he lived with family friends. Eventually, his mother returned to take care of him and provide a better future. His mother and he settled in Cleveland, Ohio when he was first introduced to famous works of poetry by his teacher. The teacher introduced him to the poetry of Carl Sandburg and Walt Whitman, who would later become inspiring figures to him. Langston Hughes contributed to his school by writing for the school newspaper, editing the yearbook, and beginning to write his first short stories, poetry, and dramatic plays. "When Sue Wears Red" was Langston’s first piece of jazz poetry that he wrote while he was in high school. "The Negro Speaks of Rivers" was Langston Hughes's first major published poem, which received high praise. It became his signature poem and was published in The Crisis in 1921, a year after it was written. In 1925, while working as a busboy in a Washington, D.C. hotel restaurant, Langston Hughes met Vachel Lindsay, an American poet, who discovered his talent in poetry. Lindsay used his connections to promote Hughes's poetry, which helped bring it to a broader audience. Another recognized poem of Hughes's was "The Weary Blues," which won first place in the Opportunity Magazine Literary Competition in 1925. As a result, Hughes received a scholarship to attend Lincoln University in Pennsylvania.

Show More
Related

  • How Does Langston Hughes Use Strength In Mother To Son

    1500 Words  | 3 Pages

    Langston Hughes wrote during a very critical time in American History, the Harlem Renaissance. Hughes wrote many poems, but most of his most captivating works centered around women and power that they hold. They also targeted light and darkness and strength. The Negro Speaks of Rivers and Mother to Son, both explain the importance of the woman, light and darkness and strength in the African-American community. They both go about it in different ways.

    Read More

  • Langston Hughes and Jesse B. Simple

    1089 Words  | 3 Pages

    Langston Hughes was born on February 1st, 1902 in Joplin, Missouri. He started education at Lincoln University in Pennsylvania. He went on to write and publish his first work, a poem called, “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” in Crisis magazine. He then continued his education at Columbia University in New York in 1921. He then lived for sometime in Paris and after returning to the United States, he worked in Washington D.C. as a busboy. Later after that, Vachel Lindsay discovered Hughes literary talents. Hughes talents did not only exist in poetry, he also expanded his talent into music, play writing, and short stories, for example the “Simple” stories. His most prominent work however was written and published during the Harlem Renaissance a time where many other African-American authors were showcasing their work and being published. Hughes however, stood above the rest with his multiple talents and work which spread across the board. The white society of America at the time of the Harlem Renaissance and years after began to label him as a radical. Hughes remained extremely prolific to the very end of his life. Hughes published over forty books, including a series of children’s books. However, if you add his translations and his many anthologies of black writing, the amount of books he has published would double. He remained a controversial figure, having been considered a dangerous radical in the 1940s. Hughes was now, as he retained his lifelong commitment to racial integration, rejected by 1960s radicals considered to be a part of the problem, rather than part of the solution. However, that would not stop Hughes from being recognized as one of the important black a...

    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

  • Langston Hughes and Poetry

    2394 Words  | 5 Pages

    Hughes, a.k.a. Langston, a.k.a. “The Negro Speaks of Rivers.” The Bedford Introduction to Literature. Ed.

    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

  • African American Influence On Langston Hughes

    957 Words  | 2 Pages

    Hughes didn't feel close to either parent and often felt unloved by them. Because of his childhood, he often felt lonely and occupied himself with books. At one point, he even said he wrote "mostly because, when I felt bad, writing kept me from feeling worse." After graduating high school, he wrote his first nationally published work The Negro Speaks Rivers, while on the train to Mexico to be with his estranged father. The poem was published a year later in W.E.B Dubois Crisis magazine. At the time, it was the first poem that celebrated and dignified Africa in American literature.

    Read More

  • 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

  • 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

    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

    1086 Words  | 3 Pages

    Langston Hughes was a large influence on the African-American population of America. Some of the ways he did this was how his poetry influenced Martin Luther King Jr. and the Harlem Renaissance. These caused the civil rights movement that resulted in African-Americans getting the rights that they deserved in the United States. Hughes was born in 1902 in Joplin, Missouri. His parents divorced when he was young and his grandmother raised him. She got him into literature and education; she was one of the most important influences on him. He moved around a lot when he was young, due to his parents divorce, but remained a good student and graduated high school. After this he traveled the world and worked in different places, all the things he saw in his travels influenced him. In 1924 he settled down in Harlem where he became one of the important figures in the Harlem Renaissance. He enjoyed listening to blues and jazz in clubs while he wrote his poetry. The music that he enjoyed greatly influenced the style and rhythm of his poetry. The poem “Dream Variations” by Hughes is about an average African-American who dreams of a world where African-Americans are not looked at or treated differently and they can rest peacefully. Yet in real life this was not so, black people and white people were not equal. And the world was not as forgiving and nice as in their dream. This poem is a good example of Hughes writing because it is typical of three things. The first is the common theme of the average life of an African-American and their struggles. Secondly, the style of his writing which is based on the rhythm of jazz and blues- he uses a lot of imagery and similes. Lastly, his influences which are his lonely childhood and growing up as an Afric...

    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

  • Langston Hughes: American Poet and Social Activist

    2104 Words  | 5 Pages

    Langston Hughes was an influential leader toward many African American men, woman, and children in the 1920’s and 1930’s. Langston Hughes may not be as well-known for the civil rights movement as Martin Luther King Jr. was, but Hughes was capable of placing an everlasting impact on black culture during this period of civil rights unrest in the United States. Martin Luther King Jr. was an advocate for allowing the rights of African American people to have the same privileges and opportunities as the whites did, similarly, Langston Hughes portrayed this desire for social change through his writings and other works. He played an immeasurable role in the Harlem Renaissance period, and was looked up to by many writers as a voice to their own experiences. Hughes used everyday people and their everyday life struggles as a theme in his writings in order to touch the readers he had acquired. It is said that Langston Hughes was known as a legacy when it came to inspiring others to express themselves artistically. This legacy included: singing, writing, painting, or drawing. Langston Hughes was a master artistically, and enjoyed showing his passion for the arts to his fellow people. Langston was well known for the way he used art as motivation for social change in the United States. Langston Hughes focused many of his poems of the importance of African Americans, their culture, and the emotion blacks felt during the age of racism in the United State...

    Read More

  • Racial Inequality in 'Harlem' by Langston Hughes

    911 Words  | 2 Pages

    The poem “Harlem” itself mainly talks about the dreams being wasted being African American, but on the contrary Langston was fortunate all his life. Not all African Americans were poor and homeless, but some lived very nice lifestyles. Generally, Langston was never part of the struggle during this time. His family were considered middle class and they never went through hardships like the poem “Harlem” seems to be. Both his mother and father had well-paying jobs that supported him and his siblings.

    Read More

  • Literary Analysis Of Langston Hughes

    733 Words  | 2 Pages

    Langston Hughes, born in February 1st, 1902, grew up in segregated America. His own ancestry was as mixed as that described in the poem. Both his great-grandmothers were enslaved African Americans and both his grandparents were white slave owners. Both of Hughes’ parents were of mixed race descent. Many of his family members were key figures in the elevation of blacks in society, and they impressed upon him the nobility of black people. Hughes had a rootless and often lonely upbringing, moving back and forth between family members’ homes. Hughes was a prominent leader of the Harlem Renaissance and referred to it as the period when “the negro was in vogue”.

    Read More

  • The Harlem Renaissance: The New Negro Movement

    950 Words  | 2 Pages

    Langston Hughes is one of the most famous poets of the Harlem Renaissance. He was born in Mississippi in 1902 and later moved to Ohio where he attended Central High School. When Hughes graduated high school he went to Mexico to visit his father and while crossing the Mississippi River he was inspired to write “The Negro Speaks of Rivers”, which was his first published poem when he was eighteen years old. When Hughes returned to the United States in 1924 the Harlem Renaissance was in “full swing”. In 1925 at the age of twenty-three Hughes received an award for his poem “The Weary Blues”, Hughes was famous for incorporating blues and jazz rhymes into his poetry, which is what he did in his poem “The Weary Blues”. Hughes was at a banquet where he received an award for his poem “The Weary Blues” and was asked by a man named Carl Van Vechten if he had enough poems to make a book. Hughes said yes and Van Vechten promised that he would find Hughes ...

    Read More

More about The Life and Works of Langston Hughes

Open Document