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Langston hughes influence on american culture
Langston Hughes triumphs and struggles
Langston Hughes writing career
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Langston Hughes was the most prominent social activist and an American Poet. He was also a famous playwright, novelist and a columnist. He was born in February1 1902 in Joplin, Missouri (Hughes 210). His father was called James Hughes and her mother was Carrie. It is said that when Langston was born his parent separated and his father decided to move to Mexico. He graduated from high school in the year 1992 and spent the following year with his dad in Mexico (Hughes 210). He first enrolled himself to the University of Columbia; however, he left after a period of year to travel and he was able to work in various jobs around New York.
Hughes’s mother had also moved around during his youthful age. This means that he was left without his parent support. However, he was left under his tender grandmother who was called Mary. This shows that he was primary raised by his grandmother until when she died during his teen’s age. When his grandmother died, he was forced to go and live with her mother where they were in a position to visit several cities. However, they decided to settle in Cleveland, Ohio. It was during this entire time when he started to write his first poem. Langston Hughes is known as a famous and earliest innovator of the new literary art form Jazz poetry (Hughes 120). In addition, he is best known for his entire work during the Harlem Renaissance (Hughes 210). He famously wrote about the period, "Harlem was in vogue (Hughes 210)." It is believed that when Langston Hughes was in Cleveland, Ohio,
one of his best teachers had pioneered him to the poetry of Carl Sandburg and Walt Whitman (Hughes 210). He later cited these poets as his primary influences as they both inspired him to his poetry.
The reason why Langston H...
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Work cited
Bloom, Harold. Langston Hughes. New York: Blooms Literary Criticism, 2008. Internet resource.
Haugen, Brenda. Langston Hughes: The Voice of Harlem. Minneapolis, Minn: Compass Point Books, 2006. Print.
Hughes, Langston. Selected Poems of Langston Hughes. London: Serpent's Tail, 1999. Print.
Tracy, Steven C. Langston Hughes & the Blues. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2001. Print.
Works Cited
Bloom, Harold. Langston Hughes. New York: Blooms Literary Criticism, 2008. Internet resource.
Haugen, Brenda. Langston Hughes: The Voice of Harlem. Minneapolis, Minn: Compass Point Books, 2006. Print.
Hughes, Langston. Selected Poems of Langston Hughes. London: Serpent's Tail, 1999. Print.
Tracy, Steven C. Langston Hughes & the Blues. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2001. Print.
James Langston Hughes was born on February 1, 1902, in Joplin, Missouri. He was named after his father, but it was later shortened to just Langston Hughes. He was the only child of James and Carrie Hughes. His family was never happy so he was a lonely youth. The reasons for their unhappiness had as much to do with the color of their skin and the society into which they had been born as they did with their opposite personalities. They were victims of white attitudes and discriminatory laws. They moved to Oklahoma in the late 1890s. Although the institution of slavery was officially abolished racial discrimination and segregation persisted.
Langston Hughes was born on February 1st, 1902 in Joplin, Missouri. He started education at Lincoln University in Pennsylvania. He went on to write and publish his first work, a poem called, “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” in Crisis magazine. He then continued his education at Columbia University in New York in 1921. He then lived for sometime in Paris and after returning to the United States, he worked in Washington D.C. as a busboy. Later after that, Vachel Lindsay discovered Hughes literary talents. Hughes talents did not only exist in poetry, he also expanded his talent into music, play writing, and short stories, for example the “Simple” stories. His most prominent work however was written and published during the Harlem Renaissance a time where many other African-American authors were showcasing their work and being published. Hughes however, stood above the rest with his multiple talents and work which spread across the board. The white society of America at the time of the Harlem Renaissance and years after began to label him as a radical. Hughes remained extremely prolific to the very end of his life. Hughes published over forty books, including a series of children’s books. However, if you add his translations and his many anthologies of black writing, the amount of books he has published would double. He remained a controversial figure, having been considered a dangerous radical in the 1940s. Hughes was now, as he retained his lifelong commitment to racial integration, rejected by 1960s radicals considered to be a part of the problem, rather than part of the solution. However, that would not stop Hughes from being recognized as one of the important black a...
During the early to mid-twentieth century Langston Hughes contributed vastly to a very significant cultural movement later to be named the “Harlem Renaissance.” At the time it was named the “New Negro Movement,” which involved African Americans in creating and expressing their words through literature and art. Hughes contributed in a variety of different aspects including plays, poems, short stories, novels and even jazz. He was even different from other notable black poets at the time in the way that he shared personal experiences rather than the ordinary everyday experiences of black America. His racial pride helped mold American politics and literature into what it is today.
Hughes, a.k.a. Langston, a.k.a. “The Negro Speaks of Rivers.” The Bedford Introduction to Literature. Ed.
He would soon lose himself in the works of Walt Whitman, Paul Laurence, Carl Sandburg and other literary greats which would lead to enhancing his ever so growing style and grace of oeuvre. Such talent, character, and willpower can only come from one’s life experiences. Hughes had allot to owe to influences such as his grandmother and great uncle John Mercer Langston - a famous African American abolitionist. These influential individuals helped mold Hughes, and their affect shines brightly through his literary works of art. One of the most important of the influential people in Langston Hughes’ life was his grandmother.
"A Centennial Tribute to Langston Hughes." Library System - Howard University. Howard University, n.d. Web. 13 Jan. 2014.
The "Langston Hughes" Poets.org. Academy of American Poets, n.d. Web. The Web. The Web. 03 Dec. 2013.
Langston Hughes was one of the first black men to express the spirit of blues and jazz
James Langston Hughes was born February 1, 1902, in Joplin , Missouri . His parents divorced when he was a small child, and his father moved to Mexico . He was raised by his grandmother until he was thirteen, when he moved to Lincoln , Illinois , to live with his mother and her husband, before the family eventually settled in Cleveland , Ohio . It was in Lincoln , Illinois , that Hughes began writing poetry. Following graduation, he spent a year in Mexico and a year at Columbia University . During these years, he held odd jobs as an assistant cook, launderer, and a busboy, and travelled to Africa and Europe working as a seaman. In November 1924, he moved to Washington , D.C. Hughes's first book of poetry, The Weary Blues, was published by Alfred A. Knopf in 1926. He finished his college education at Lincoln University in Pennsylvania three years later. In 1930 his first novel, Not Without Laughter, won the Harmon gold medal for literature.
The Collection Poems of Langston Hughes, Rapersad, A. & Roessel, D. ( Eds.) (1995) , New York, Vintage Books
“Harlem” by Langston Hughes opened the doors to African American art. Throughout history, there has been a lot of issues with racial inequality. During the Harlem Renaissance, many African Americans wanted to prove they were just as intelligent, creative, and talented as white Americans. Langston Hughes was one of the people who played an influential part in the Harlem Renaissance. His poem “Harlem” painted a very vivid picture of his life and his outlook on the society he lived in.
Langston Hughes, born in February 1st, 1902, grew up in segregated America. His own ancestry was as mixed as that described in the poem. Both his great-grandmothers were enslaved African Americans and both his grandparents were white slave owners. Both of Hughes’ parents were of mixed race descent. Many of his family members were key figures in the elevation of blacks in society, and they impressed upon him the nobility of black people. Hughes had a rootless and often lonely upbringing, moving back and forth between family members’ homes. Hughes was a prominent leader of the Harlem Renaissance and referred to it as the period when “the negro was in vogue”.
Hughes, Langston. The Negro mother, and other dramatic recitations. Freeport, N.Y.: Books for Libraries Press, 1971. Print.
Hill, Christine M. Langston Hughes: Poet of the Harlem Renaissance. Springfield, NJ, USA: Enslow, 1997. Print.
Critical Essays on Langston Hughes.