Langston Hughes, An American Poet Essay

The upper-class blacks shunned the lower class viewing them as being “embarrassingly vulgar” (Dickinson 323). Overcoming African-American prejudice was a major focus in most of Hughes’ writing. For example, he wrote about the joys, sorrows and hopes of the black man in America (Dickinson 321). Not all of his writings were so encouraging however. Other themes Hughes wrote about include lynchings, rapes, discrimination, and Jim Crow Laws. He commented that when he felt bad, he wrote a great deal of poetry; when he was happy, he didn’t write any (Dickinson 321).

Here, according to Hughes, he wrote his first verse and was named class poet of his eighth grade class. Hughes lived in Lincoln for only a year, and then had to move to Toledo, Ohio because of a new job his stepfather found. Shortly after his move to Toledo, his stepfather and mother moved on, this time to Chicago, but Hughes stayed in Cleveland in order to finish high school. In Ohio, his high school teachers and classmates recognized his writing talent, and Hughes had his first pieces of verse published in the Central High Monthly, a sophisticated school magazine. Soon he was on the staff of the Monthly, and publishing in the magazine regularly. An English teacher introduced him to poets such as Carl Sandburg and Walk Whitman, and these became Hughes' earliest influences. the summer after Hughes's junior year in high school, his father reentered his life. James Hughes was living in Toluca, Mexico, and wanted his son to join him there. Hughes lived in Mexico for the summer but he did not get along with his father. This conflict, though painful, apparently contributed to Hughes's maturity. When Hughes returned to Cleveland to finish high school, his writing had also matured. Consequently, during his senior year of high school, Langston Hughes began writing poetry of distinction.

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.

Hughes graduated from high school in 1920 and went to Mexico to visit his father. Hughes wrote poetry and submitted his work to magazines multiple times, although they were never chosen until one day, in 1920, The Negro Speaks of Rivers was published and highly praised in a magazine called "The Crisis." In 1921, Hughes returned to the United States and briefly attended Columbia University. He dropped out in 1922, but at his time there he became part of Harlem's burgeoning cultural movement. He

In 1922 Hughes left Columbia University after having taken only a few classes. He moved to Harlem, part of upper Manhattan near the Columbia campus, in November 1924. Harlem was becoming famous for its rich environment for the flowering arts. In 1925 Hughes won first prize in a magazine contest with "Weary Blues," which gained him the attention of many of the writers we now think of as members of the Harlem Renaissance. Hughes published his first book of poems, The Weary Blues, in 1926. The work, though early, is signature in many ways, including its fusion of blues and jazz rhythms with people, especially the musicality of the ordinary daily speech of the African-American dialects.

Foremost, Langston Hughes was born on February 1st, 1902 in Joplin, Missouri to two black parents. They later divorced which caused Hughes to move around a lot and be raised by his grandmother. Through his friends and schoolmates, Hughes was “introduced to leftist literature and ideology” (Gale Group), as they associated with socialism. This marked the beginning of Hughes avid love of reading and literature. He was influenced by The Souls of Black Folk which which was a classic novel about racism that inspired his writing and poems about the “experiences, attitudes, and language of everyday black Americans” (Gale Group). Hughes experienced racism first hand through his father, as he considered all other races inferior to whites, further alienating Hughes from him. At 17, he wrote “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” which celebrated the voice and soul of the black community in a time of great hatred, helping to unite and inspire blacks during the Harlem Renaissance. The Harlem Renaissance was a time of cultural rebirth and a movement during the 1920s and 1930s in America in which black artists, activists, musicians, and writers “found new ways to explore and celebrate the black experience” (Gale Group) in the midst of white oppression. Hughes’ poetry gave a voice and inspiration for many black people across America as he detailed their struggles and pain related to the racial prejudice shown against them. The way Hughes wrote, threading in “structures and rhythms of jazz music” (Gale Group), his

James Mercer Langston Hughes was born in Joplin, Missouri, on February 1, 1902, to James Nathaniel Hughes, a lawyer and businessman, and Carrie Mercer (Langston) Hughes, a teacher. The couple separated shortly thereafter. James Hughes was, by his son’s account, a cold man who hated blacks (and hated himself for being one), feeling that most of them deserved their ill fortune because of what he considered their ignorance and laziness. Langston’s youthful visits to him there, although sometimes for extended periods, were strained and painful. He attended Columbia University in 1921-22, and when he died he, left everything to three elderly women who had cared for him in his last illness,

His creativity is what helped shape the artistic contributions of the Harlem Renaissance. He was considered the most popular star in his time (page 65 ). He was born February 1, 1902 in Joplin, Missouri. ( page 65). Hughes wrote poetry and most of them were written because of the Harlem Renaissance. He wrote a poem called “ The Negro Speaks of Rivers” which was written in 1920(source 2). Langston hughes had a complex ancestry, both of his great grandmothers were African American slaves and both of his great grandfathers were white slave owners in

“James Mercer Langston Hughes, known as Langston Hughes was born February 2, 1902 in Missouri, to Carrie Hughes and James Hughes.” Years later his parents separated. Langston’s father moved to Mexico and became very successful, as his for mother, she moved frequently to find better jobs. As a child growing up Langston spent most of his childhood living with his grandmother named Mary Langston in Lawrence, Kansas. Mary Langston was a learned women and a participant in the civil rights Movement. When Langston Hughes was 12 years old his grandmother passed away. Langston then moved in with his mother and stepfather Homer Clark. A few months later, Langston’s mother sent him to live with her mother’s friend “Auntie” and Mr. Reed. In 1915

Langston Hughes was born in the early 1900s, in a deeply segregated area of Joplin, Missouri - once a southern confederate state. The foundation of social injustice, which ultimately shaped Hughes’s works and his won identity was based on

James Langston Hughes was born on Feb. 1, 1902, in Joplin, Missouri, 37 years after slavery was officially abolished in the United States. As you can imagine, racism and racial discrimination was a big problem during this time. As a child, Hughes often heard stories from his grandmother, Mary Patterson Langston, about abolitionists and courageous slaves who struggled for their freedom. These stories gave Hughes a sense of nobility towards black people ("Langston Hughes: Childhood"). Growing up, Hughes attended middle school in Kansas, Illinois. There he was the minority in his classroom, having only two African Americans in the entire class ("Langston Hughes: Childhood"). Although Hughes was a minority and often faced black stereotypes, he was focused and excelled in school. At his eight grade graduation, he was elected class poet. According to Hughes, he continued to wright poems because he felt he “couldn’t let his white friends down” ("Langston Hughes: Childhood").

     Langston Hughes’s writing showcases a variety of themes and moods, and his distinguished career led his biographer, Arnold Rampersad, to describe him as “perhaps the most representative black American writer.” Many of his poems illustrate his role as a spokesman for African American society and the working poor. In others, he relates his ideas on the importance of heritage and the past. Hughes accomplishes this with a straightforward, easily understandable writing style that clearly conveys his thoughts and opinions, although he has frequently been criticized for the slightly negative tone to his works.

Langston Hughes’s life contained key influences on his work. As a child, Hughes witnessed a divorce between his parents and the subsequent death of his grandmother, his primary caretaker at the time. Hughes’s childhood was also marked by the constant transition of moving from city to

In 1951, Langston Hughes wrote on of his more political poems titled “Harlem.” It shone light on the need for change in the African American society. Hughes used this poem, and many others like it, to help pioneer the Harlem Renaissance. Born in Joplin,Missouri , Hughes (1902-1967) grew up in Lincoln, Illinois and Cleveland,Ohio. He began writing poetry during his high schoolyears(Gardner,465).His high school companions, most of whom were white, remembered him as a handsome "Indianlooking" youth whom everyone liked and respected for his quiet, natural ways and his abilities. He won an athletic letter in track and held offices in the student council and the American Civic Association(gale). In his senior year he was chosen class poet and

James Mercer Langston Hughes was born February 1, 1902 in Joplin, Missouri, to school teacher Carrie (Caroline) Mercer Langston and James Nathaniel Hughes. Hughes’ father left his family, and later divorced Carrie moving to Cuba, and then Mexico trying to escape the racism in the United States. Since his mom traveled looking for work, young Langston was being raised by his maternal grandmother, Mary Patterson Langston in Lawrence, Kansas. She told him stories of abolitionist and courageous slaves who struggled for their freedom, it was these stories that gave him a great sense of racial pride. After the death of his grandmother in 1912 Langston lived with family friends for awhile, but, eventually he ended up