Langston Hughes : Black Poets Impact On African American Literature

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).

Langston Hughes was one of the first black men to express the spirit of blues and jazz

A huddle of horns And a tinkle of glass A note Handed down from Marcus to Malcolm To a brother Too bad and too cool to give his name. Sometimes despair Makes the stoops shudder Sometimes there are endless depths of pain Singing a capella on street corners

This freedom of expression offered by poetry has changed literature as a whole and affected whole communities, such as that of Harlem during the Harlem Renaissance. Langston Hughes’s upbringing in a family that valued and preserved their black culture, influenced his poetry and the way he gave a voice to the struggles and racial oppression of the black people.

“I too sing America. I am the darker brother.” (Langston Hughes, “I, Too,” from Collected Poems, 46). Langston Hughes had many factors throughout his life that influenced his works. He was an artist that had works that crossed over into jazz, blues, and expressed his culture. During the 1920s Harlem Renaissance, Langston Hughes shared his African American pride with others through his poetry, promoting equality and justice, while living life affected by racism, segregation, and Jim Crow laws.

Recurring themes in her poetry are embracing ancestors past, self discovery, reconciliation, the black experience, self worth & reassurance, female sensibility, and concerns of black women. Clifton’s writing style can be described as being moral and hopeful. Lucille Clifton empowers women and African Americans throughout her poetry which shows the strength and beauty of the intricacies of her life.

Unlike Langston Hughes, Maya Angelou devoted her life to inspiring African Americans to do whatever they wanted to do no matter what other people said. She also wanted to inspire people. Her poems Phenomenal Woman and Still I Rise inspired not only the African American people, which is was intended to, but the whole world including men. Like Hughes, Maya Angelou did not think that one day she would be reading one of her poems at President Clinton 's inauguration. But she did think that she would inspire young African American writers that they too could become wonderful writers in a white society. Angelou is hailed as one of the great voices of contemporary black literature and as a remarkable Renaissance woman.

James Mercer Langston Hughes, (February 1, 1902 – May 22, 1967) was born in Joplin, Missouri, to James Nathaniel and Caroline Hughes in 1902. Hughes’ parents were of mixed-race, and Langston Hughes was of African American, European American and Native American descent. Hughes' father left his family and later divorced Carrie using it as a way to escape the unbearable racism in America. After his parents’ separation, his mother travelled in

I would define African American Literature as literature created by authors of the African America race. It started with slave narratives and during the Harlem Renaissance attention was brought to the arts of African American artiest, poets, musicians, and authors. African American Literature is more than slave narratives. It is heartfelt stories of lost love, justices, death, and finding one’s own strength. African American literature comes in the form of poetry, short stories, non-fiction and fiction. I feel that African American literature takes creativity, reliability, a strong plot. Authors, such as, Octavia Butler give reader literature that is compelling and thought provoking through plot twists and complex characters.

Take a time machine back to one of the most culturally-rich times in history, the Modern Age. More specifically, set your destination to northern Manhattan in the early 20s. When you step onto those bustling streets, you’ll find yourself swept up in the Harlem Renaissance. The contemporary writers you are surrounded by are legends such as Langston Hughes and W. E. B. DuBois, and the contemporary musicians you may hear at a local nightclub include some of the greatest in jazz history, including Thelonious Monk, Nat King Cole, Charlie Parker, Duke Ellington. When you’re tired of dancing all night, take your time machine back to 2017, and what you’ll find is that writers and musicians are still

Langston Hughes inspired others to reach their true potential in their work by using their own life as a catalyst:

From 1918 to about 1935 is when there was a blossoming of African-American culture in music, art, poems, novels, and other creative arts. After the Civil War many African-Americans migrated to north in Harlem, NY and there they were able to express their freedom of creativity in writing, music, and art where they challenged racism. There were several famous people who were well known such as Louis Armstrong a trumpet player who set a lot of African-American firsts such as the first African-American jazz musician to write an autobiography, and features billing in major Hollywood movies and others. Jacob Lawrence was a painter who bought experiences to life using art and thought as a professor in University of Washington. There are many other

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.

Ai, Gwendolyn Brooks, and Kwame Dawes are all contemporary African American poets. Their works often focused on different aspects of the post civil rights movement in the African American community. Ai was known for writing poetry on hard subjects. She was also known for writing poems that were graphic. Being multiracial,( 1/2 Japanese, 1/8 Choctaw, 1/4 Black, and 1/16 Irish), many of her poems were based on the complexity of identity ( qtd. in “Ai, a Steadfast Poetic Channel of Hard Lives, Dies at 62”). On the other hand, Kwame Dawes is a Nigerian born man of Jamaican descent. Gwendolyn Brooks was an African American woman whose adult years were spent during the civil rights movement.

The Harlem Renaissance was a cultural movement and the enlightenment of black minds as a whole. This movement sparked the minds of many leaders such as Marcus Garvey, W.E.B Dubois, and Langston Hughes, these men would also come to be known as the earliest Civil Rights activists. While Garvey and Dubois expressed their views in speeches and rallies Hughes had a different approach and chose to articulate his thoughts and views through literature more specifically poetry. Through his poetry, Hughes became a world renown poet for such works as “Let America Be America Again”, “Harlem” and “I Too” taken from his first book “The Weary Blues.” These poems while written and inspired by the everyday struggles of being an African-American were arguably targeted at white Americans. Hughes wrote a majority of his work during the Harlem Renaissance and as a result focused on “injustice” and “change” in the hopes that society would recognize their mistake and reconcile, but in order for this to happen he would have to target the right audience.