Langston Hughes, A Prominent And Influential Figure During The Harlem Renaissance

The well known poet Langston Hughes was an inspiring character during the Harlem Renaissance to provide a push for the black communities to fight for the rights they deserved. Hughes wrote his poetry to deliver important messages and provide support to the movements. When he was at a young age a teacher introduced him to poets Carl Sandburg and Walt Whitman, and they inspired him to start his own. Being a “darker brother,” as he called blacks, he experienced and wanted his rights, and that inspired him. Although literary critics felt that Langston Hughes portrayed an unattractive view of black life, the poems demonstrate reality. Hughes used the Blues and Jazz to add effect to his work as well as his extravagant word use and literary

Langston Hughes was the leading voice of African American people in his time, speaking through his poetry to represent blacks. His Influence through his poems are seen widely not just by blacks but by those who enjoy poetry in other races and social classes. Hughes poems, Harlem, The Negro speaks of rivers, Theme for English B, and Negro are great examples of his output for the racial inequality between the blacks and whites. The relationship between whites and blacks are rooted in America's history for the good and the bad. Hughes poems bring the history at large and present them in a proud manner. The injustice that blacks face because of their history of once being in bondage is something they are constantly reminded and ridiculed for but must overcome and bring to light that the thoughts of slavery and inequality will be a lesson and something to remember for a different future where that kind of prejudice is not found so widely.

Langston Hughes was a poet with many artistic abilities. His writing and drawings established the lifestyles of many African Americans during this time. In a poem called “I, Too” Hughes express his feelings as an African American, a brother, and someone who deserves to fit in society. He states “I, too sing America” (1039). Hughes saw himself as an individual who has a voice in America even though his skin is a little darker. In a poem called “Democracy” Hughes states: “I have as much right as the other fellow has to stand on my own two feet and own the land” (1043). Hughes was speaking for every African American whom were still dealing with segregation, racism, and freedom.

Langston Hughes was one of the great writers of his time. He was named the “most renowned African American poet of the 20th century” (McLaren). Through his writing he made many contributions to following generations by writing about African American issues in creative ways including the use of blues and jazz. Langston Hughes captured the scene of Harlem life in the early 20th century significantly influencing American Literature. He once explained that his writing was an attempt to “explain and illuminate the Negro condition in America” (Daniel 760). To fulfill this task, he wrote 15 volumes of poetry, six novels, three books, 11 plays, and a variety of non-fiction work (Daniel 760). He also edited over 50 books in his time (McKay).

James Mercer Langston Hughes was born in 1902 in Joplin, Missouri. He grew up mainly in Lawrence, Kansas but also lived in Illinois, Ohio and Mexico. Constantly having to travel he wrote his poem that would make him famous, “The Negro Speaks of Rivers”. Having different expectations his parents slit up resulting in him living with his maternal grandmother.

Langston Hughes is an extremely successful and well known black writer who emerged from the Harlem Renaissance (“Langston Hughes” 792). He is recognized for his poetry and like many other writers from the Harlem Renaissance, lived most of his life outside of Harlem (“Langston Hughes” 792). His personal experiences and opinions inspire his writing intricately. Unlike other writers of his time, Hughes expresses his discontent with black oppression and focuses on the hardships of his people. Hughes’ heartfelt concern for his people’s struggle evokes the reader’s emotion. His appreciation for black music and culture is evident in his work as well. Langston Hughes is a complex poet whose profound works provide insight into all aspects of black

Langston Hughes is one the most renowned and respected authors of twentieth century America not simply one of the most respected African-American authors, though he is certainly this as well, but one of the most respected authors of the period overall. A large part of the respect and admiration that the man and his work have garnered is due to the richness an complexity of Hughes' writing, both his poetry and his prose and even his non-fictions. In almost all of his texts, Hughes manages at once to develop and explore the many intricacies and interactions of the human condition and specifically of the experience growing up and living as a black individual in a white-dominated and explicitly anti-Black society while at the same time, while at the same time rendering his human characters and their emotions in a simple, straightforward, and immensely accessible fashion. Reading the complexity behind the surface simplicity of his works is at once enjoyable and edifying.

Langston Hughes is a famous poet known mostly for his contribution to the Harlem Renaissance. He wrote many inspirational poems that are still read and used for educational purposes. Many of his poems were inspired by his life and his story. One of his many poems entitled “Theme for English B” talks about how his teacher instructed him to write a page about himself and it will be true. In a “Theme for English B”, Hughes uses tone, and characterization to display a relationship between race and writing.

Langston Hughes was an author during the Harlem Renaissance time period. He was a strong supporter of the Black Power Movement. He wrote poems about racial discrimination, black life, love, hatred, death and equality; those were the common themes in his poems. Hughes became a recognized literary figure and is still recognized to this day. As a child, he “lived in many places and met many different kinds of people” (Haskins).

“Harlem”, also known as “A Dream Deferred”, is a poem by Langston Hughes published in 1951. The four stanza, free verse poem is composed of six questions and one declarative sentence. This poem reflects the post-World War II mood of many African Americans. The Great Depression and the war were over, but for many African Americans their dreams, whatever particular form it took, were still being deferred. Through this poem Langston Hughes examines the possible effects caused by the dream, when they are constantly deferred. As Hughes explores what happens when dreams are put on hold, the speaker uses a series of similes that compare the act of deferring dreams. To catch the reader's attention, the writer also made sure that specific words and questions stood out. As a result, the

Langston Hughes, an African American writer who interpreted to the world the black experience in the US and portrayed them with skill and insight, was born February 1st, 1902 into the home of the couple James and Carrie Hughes. Hughes ' mother attended college and had an artistic temperament. James Nathanial Hughes was a prosperous lawyer and rancher in Mexico who disliked the black poor and hated Negroes. On April 30, 1899, in Guthrie, Oklahoma, him and his wife Carrie were married and were pregnant within a few days after the wedding. When the U.S. census taker came around on June 5, 1900 the tragedy struck couple reported the loss of their first child, a boy; apparently he was buried earlier that year. Langston came along next and soon after his parents separated. When Langston was between the age of 5 and 7 his parents tried to reconcile with each other in Mexico. The reunion ended on the night of April 14, 1907 after an earthquake shook the ground over a vast region in Mexico. After the incident Carrie, her mother and her son fled Mexico. Hughes was raised by his mother, who later married Homer Clark, and his grandmother, who had served as a conductor on the Underground Railroad with her husband earlier in her life. Langston lived in about half a dozen cities before him and his new family settled in Cleveland. Langston Hughes found his first job; he gathered maple seeds and most likely sold them to the Bartheldes Seed Company.

Langston Hughes’s poem I, Too published in 1926 speaks at great length about the American identity: to be an American is an issue that transcends race, and all Americans should be treated equally. Writing from the perspective of an initially subservient African American, Hughes presents a story that begins in oppression and ends in triumph. A throwback to the prior institution of slavery, the setting of I, Too is confined to a single slave owner 's house; yet, it paints an image of struggle, growth and unity like none other of its time.

“I Too” is a poem written and published in the Harlem Renaissance Era. Hughes, being one of the most prominent writers of the time, wrote 5 metaphorical stanzas that specifically capture several of themes of the relationship of African- Americans in comparison to White- American culture and society, these chosen themes show Hughes’ recognition of the pain in segregation and difficulty of the situation at the time.

Credited as being the most recognizable figure of the Harlem Renaissance, Langston Hughes played a vital role in the Modernist literary movement and the movement to revitalize African American culture in the early 20th century. Hughes’s poems reflect his personal struggle and the collective struggle of African Americans during this cultural revival.

   " The poet's life is the focusing glass through which passes the determinants of the shape of his work: the tradition available to him, his understanding of "Kinds", the impact of special experiences (travel, love, etc.)." (Fielder 1431). Langston Hughes did not have an easy life. Being a young black male during the 1920's, Hughes was constantly being discriminated against by the color of his skin. Because of that harsh reality, most of his work was centered around the African American's fight for racial equality. One good example of this is shown in his poem "I, Too". Hughes writes about being discriminated against because he was black.