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Home » Langston Hughes

Langston Hughes

Biography Langston Hughes

James Mercer Langston Hughes (February 1, 1901 – May 22, 1967) was an American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist from Joplin, Missouri. One of the earliest innovators of the then-new literary art form called jazz poetry, Hughes is best known as a leader of the Harlem Renaissance. He famously wrote about the period that "the Negro was in vogue", which was later paraphrased as "when Harlem was in vogue."

You never know when someone else’s words may change your life. That’s what happened to a young poet, Langston Hughes. During the Great Depression, Hughes and a friend went to Daytona, Florida, to meet the famous African-American educator Mary McLeod Bethune. (The Mini Page featured Bethune in a July issue.) Bethune suggested that Hughes travel throughout the South, reading his poetry to earn a living. The idea seemed kind of crazy to him, but Bethune said: “People need poetry, especially our people.”

Hold fast to dreams, for if dreams die, life is a broken-winged bird that cannot fly.Langston Hughes

Spreading His Words

Weeks later, Langston Hughes decided to make poetry his career. A friend from his college days served as his driver and manager. They traveled through the South, holding poetry readings at colleges attended by African-Americans.

Langston Hughes wrote and read poetry that spoke of the experience of being black, that taught of the struggles of being black in a segregated United States and that gave a voice to a better life for black Americans.

His audiences were mostly AfricanAmerican college students. They welcomed his words, which moved them, made them angry and made them proud.

Hughes joined other writers who led an African-American cultural movement centered in New York. That movement was called the Harlem Renaissance, and Hughes became one of its most well-known troubadours. (A troubadour is a wandering artist or entertainer.)

Young Life

Langston Hughes was born in Joplin, Missouri, in 1902. He started writing poetry as a teenager, when he lived with his grandmother in Lawrence, Kansas. He was lonely living there and found “the wonderful world in books.”

Hughes studied at Columbia University in New York City and then traveled to Africa and Europe as a crewman on ships. Eventually he earned a degree from Lincoln University in Pennsylvania, then returned to New York, where he lived for most of the rest of his life.

Hughes On Writing

“Generally, the fi rst two or three lines come to me from something I’m thinking about, or looking at, or doing, and the rest of the poem... flows from those fi rst few lines. If there is a chance to put the poem down then, I write it down. If not, I try to remember it until I get to a pencil and paper; for poems are like rainbows: they escape you quickly,” Hughes wrote.

Hughes’ Poetry

Langston Hughes’ poem “Dream Variations” was published in 1926.

We’re sharing it here:
To fling my arms wide
In some place of the sun,
To whirl and to dance
Till the white day is done.
Then rest at cool evening
Beneath a tall tree
While night comes on gently,
Dark like me—
That is my dream!

To fling my arms wide
In the face of the sun,
Dance! Whirl! Whirl!
Till the quick day is done.
Rest at pale evening...
A tall, slim tree...
Night coming tenderly
Black like me.

Snake

Langston Hughes

Merry-Go-Round

Langston Hughes Car, Horse

Ennui

Langston Hughes

Still Here

Langston Hughes Hope, Snow, Sun, Wind

My People

Langston Hughes Beautiful, Night, People, Star, Sun

Bad Morning

Langston Hughes

Let America Be America Again

Langston Hughes Africa, America, Dark, Dog, Dream, Faith, Freedom, Greed, Green, Home, Hope, Pain, People, Power, Rain, Rape, Red, Strength, Today, Work

Cross

Langston Hughes Evil, House, Mother, Sorry

Suicide’s Note

Langston Hughes Kiss, River, Suicide

Brass Spittoons

Langston Hughes

Catch

Langston Hughes

Justice

Langston Hughes Justice

Dying Beast

Langston Hughes

Peace

Langston Hughes

Enemy

Langston Hughes

Bouquet

Langston Hughes

Cultural Exchange

Langston Hughes Child, Children, Christmas, Culture, Dream, Family, Fun, Green, Power, River, Sea, Sometimes, Wind, Work

Madam And Her Madam

Langston Hughes Child, Children, Dog, Horse, House, Love, Woman, Women, Work

The Weary Blues

Langston Hughes Happy, Light, Moon, Night, Sad, Sleep, Song, Star, World

Po’ Boy Blues

Langston Hughes Home, Lost, Love, Money, Sunshine, World

50-50

Langston Hughes

Walkers With The Dawn

Langston Hughes Night, Sun

The Negro Mother

Langston Hughes Believe, Brother, Children, Dark, Despair, Dream, Girl, Husband, Lonely, Mother, Night, Remember, Respect, Sometimes, Sorrow, Sun, Today, Trust, Woman, Work

Personal

Langston Hughes

Question [1]

Langston Hughes

April Rain Song

Langston Hughes April, Kiss, Love, Night, Rain, Running, Silver, Sleep, Song

Genius Child

Langston Hughes

Dream Deferred

Langston Hughes Dream, Running, Sun

Lonesome Place

Langston Hughes

Daybreak In Alabama

Langston Hughes Heaven, Music, People, Rain, Red, Rose, Song, Tree

Ardella

Langston Hughes

Advertisement For The Waldorf-Astoria

Langston Hughes God, Home, House, People, Winter, Woman, Women, World

Silence

Langston Hughes

I Dream A World

Langston Hughes

In Time Of Silver Rain

Langston Hughes

Theme For English B

Langston Hughes Christmas, Home, School, Sleep, Sometimes, Work

Thanksgiving Time

Langston Hughes

Kids Who Die

Langston Hughes

Oppression

Langston Hughes Dark, Dream, Night, Song

Madam And The Census Man

Langston Hughes

To Certain

Langston Hughes

Pierrot

Langston Hughes

Dream Boogie

Langston Hughes

I, Too

Langston Hughes America, Beautiful, Brother

The Ballad Of The Landlord

Langston Hughes

Will V-Day Be Me-Day Too?

Langston Hughes Car, Change, Death, Friend, Home, Hope, Sky, Soldier, Son, War, World

Demand

Langston Hughes

Trumpet Player

Langston Hughes

Negro Dancers

Langston Hughes

Democracy

Langston Hughes Fear, Freedom, People, Today

Love Song For Lucinda

Langston Hughes Lost, Love, Purple, Sky, Song, Star, Tree

Madam And The Rent Man

Langston Hughes

The Dream Keeper

Langston Hughes Dream, Heart, World

Minstrel Man

Langston Hughes Dance, Laughter, Pain, Song

Easy Boogie

Langston Hughes

Prize Fighter

Langston Hughes

God

Langston Hughes

Me And The Mule

Langston Hughes

Songs

Langston Hughes

To Artina

Langston Hughes Alone, God, Heart

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