Art & Life of Langston Hughes

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Throughout our lives, we often deal with boundaries created by society and ourselves. Racism and prejudices have plagued our society for years. There have been many people using many methods techniques in the fight against racism. One man used his art and the power of words to bring forth the issues of injustice suffered in America, he was Langston Hughes. Langston Hughes was a Negro Writer, born at the turn of the century in 1902, in Joplin, Missouri. His ancestry included three major race groups, however, he lived and was identified as a Negro or Colored (Hughes referred to himself as "colored" or "Negro," because those were the terms used to refer to African-Americans in this era). He spent most of his early years with his grandmother in Lawrence, Kansas due to the separation of his mother and father. In 1908 when Langston was ready to start school, his mother was told that he could not attend a nearby because her son was black. The school was located in Topeka, Kansas and was mostly white. Langston’s mother, Carrie, challenged and fought the school over their decision. She won her fight and Langston was finally admitted to the school. By the time he was fourteen, he had lived in Joplin, Buffalo, Cleveland, Lawrence, Kansas, Mexico City, Topeka, Kansas, Colorado Springs, Kansas City, and Lincoln, Illinois. Even though he moved often during his life there are people that Langston was greatly influenced by, his grandmother implanted a sense of dedication, she told him wonderful stories about Frederick Douglas and Sojourner Truth and once took him to hear Booker T. Washington. Shortly after his thirteenth birthday, his grandmother died and Langston moved in with James and Mary Reed for the next two years, they were not related but... ... middle of paper ... ...f Missouri Press, 2007. “Langston Hughes’s Queer Blues” Martin Joseph Ponce Modern Language Quarterly 2005 66(4):505-538, DOI:10.1215/00267929-66-4-505 Hughes, Langston. The Big Sea: An Autobiography by Langston Hughes. New York: Hill and Wang, 1940. Baldwin, J. Sermons and blues (Review: Selected Poems of Langston Hughes by Langston Hughes). Mar 29, 1959: 1-2. Colum, M. M. The new books of poetry (Review: Shakespeare in Harlem by Langston Hughes). New York Times, Mar 22, 1942: 1-5. Jabari Asim, “The Politics and Poetry of Langston Hughes,” Washington Post, Monday, June 7, 2004. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A21849-2004Jun7.html (accessed July 1, 2008). Langston Hughes, “The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain,” Modern American Poetry, http://www.english.uiuc.edu/maps/poets/g_l/hughes/mountain.htm (accessed June 27, 2008).

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