Weekend Writing: Celebrating Langston Hughes

February is Black History Month and it's very fitting to begin this month with a blog post dedicated to Langston Hughes. After all, he was one of the most influential American poets, essayists, and social activists of the early 1900s. He was one of the earliest innovators of jazz poetry and was the leader of the Harlem Renaissance in New York City.

But today, I'm celebrating him on the blog because yesterday (February 1) was his birthday. Born on February 1, 1902, as James Mercer Langston Hughes in Joplin, Missouri, he was the youngest of two children to James and Caroline Hughes, descendants of a mixture of both enslaved African Americans and white slave owners. Being in a mixed family made for an interesting family history.

Langston Hughes (photo/Pinterest)

Shortly after Hughes was born, his father abandoned the family and moved to Cuba and then Mexico to escape America's growing racism. Following the separation, Hughes's mother traveled to various Midwestern cities to search for employment, leaving the children behind. Hughes was raised mainly in Lawrence, Kansas, by his maternal grandmother. His grandmother taught him to have a lasting sense of racial pride.

Following his grandmother's death, Hughes returned to living with his mother, who had remarried, in Lincoln, Illinois. The reunited family moved to Cleveland, Ohio, where Hughes was introduced to inspirational teachers in high school. The intelligent young man had been experimenting with writing since grade school, where he was voted class poet. He knew he had great rhythm, but he simply had no idea what he could accomplish. In high school, he wrote for the school newspaper, edited the yearbook, and began to write short stories, poetry, and dramatic plays. He wrote his very first piece of jazz poetry, "When Sue Wears Red," while he was still in high school.

Langston Hughes (photo/Wall Street Journal)

Following graduation, Hughes decided to move to Mexico to live with his father. He didn't have a close relationship with his father, but he wanted to reconnect. His father hoped Hughes would become an engineer and disliked his son's aspirations to write poetry. Hughes and his father came to a compromise: he would study engineering, but he would still write poetry. Hughes could never really stop writing poetry; it was a part of who he was.

Langston Hughes's "The Weary Blues"
(photo/Goodreads.com).

Hughes attended Columbia University but later left due to the racial prejudice. He also hoped to travel and learn more about culture, which would certainly influence his writing. He published his first poem in 1921 in The Crisis, the official magazine of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). This poem, "The Negro Speaks of Rivers," would become his signature poem and was included in his first collection, The Weary Blues, published in 1926.

Hughes continued to write and work at various jobs. He traveled to Africa and lived briefly in Paris, where he connected more to his diversity. When he returned to the United States, he enrolled at Lincoln College, a historically black college in Chester County, Pennsylvania. After earning his B.A. degree, Hughes made Harlem his primary home, and this move would influence the famous Harlem Renaissance.

During the Harlem Renaissance (late 1920s), Hughes was influenced by a culture of other African-American writers and artists. This includes Zora Neale Hurston, Claude McKay, Countee Cullen, Wallace Thurman, and others. Hughes depicted the "low-life" in their art and the real lives of blacks. He criticized the many divisions and prejudices within the black community.

Langston Hughes (photo/WDKX.com)

Hughes's poetry and writing portrayed the lives of working-class African-Americans in the United States. While they struggled, they found time to rejoice. They had joys, laughter, and music. Hughes was one of the first poets to use jazz rhythms and dialect to perfectly describe the urban life of blacks in Harlem and across the United States.

Langston Hughes (photo/Pinterest)

From the 1920s to the '60s, Hughes wrote about what he experienced. He wrote novels (Not Without Laughter and others), short stories, plays, and his famous poetry. He wanted to tell the stories of his people in ways that reflected their actual culture. He helped define African-American and multicultural literature; therefore, we should be thankful for his influence.

Hughes wrote many famous poems throughout his career, but there are a variety of poems that have influenced generations of readers more than others. This includes "Let America Be America Again," "I, Too," "Theme for English B," "Harlem," and more. Hughes used language, themes, attitudes, and ideas to speak to all readers about the culture he experienced. He wrote about a culture he hoped to one day experience, as well.

On May 22, 1967, Hughes passed away from complications of prostate cancer. Many of his fellow artists of the Harlem Renaissance era chose to dedicate his life with jazz and blues music at his funeral, knowing that's exactly what he would prefer. Following his death, his ashes were interred beneath the entrance of the Arthur Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem. The inscription on the spot features a line from his famous poem, "The Negro Speaks of Rivers," in which it reads, "My soul has grown deep like the rivers."

Langston Hughes (photo/americaslibrary.gov)

To this day, Hughes is celebrated for influencing African-American and multicultural literature. He wrote about the culture he experienced. He wrote about the racial divide within the black communities and the way he viewed America. His poetry influenced generations of readers and I imagine his work will continue to be celebrated for many years into the future.

As we closely approach the 2020s and we will be celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Harlem Renaissance era (which is remarkable to wrap my mind around), Hughes's writing and influential themes are still relevant in American society. Modern readers can appreciate his writing just as much as they did back in the 1920s. His writing will never fail to impact us.

In fact, we need to read Langston Hughes's writing now more than ever. We still need to listen to his lessons and hope that a dream never dies. Because if a dream dies, "life is a broken-winged bird that cannot fly." 

-KJL-