Langston Hughes a Harlem Renaissance Man

The beginning of the 20th century many African Americans migrated from the south to the north in what we call today, the Great Migration. Many African Americans found themselves in a district of New York City called Harlem. The area known as Harlem matured into the hideaway of jazz and the blues where the African American artist emerged calling themselves the “New Negro.” The New Negro was the cornerstone for an era known today as the Harlem Renaissance (Barksdale 23). The Harlem Renaissance warranted the expression of the double consciousness of the African Americans, which was exposed by artists such as Langston Hughes. James Mercer Langston Hughes was an African American poet, journalist, playwright, and novelist whose works were incredibly well known. It was during the peak of the Harlem Renaissance in which Langston Hughes produced poetry which was not just musically and artistically sound, but also captured the essence of the blues. Thus giving life to a new version of poetry that illustrated the African American struggle between society and oneself. Langston Hughes was one of the most original and versatile African American artists of the twentieth century, who achieved respect and fame for his capacity to convey the African American experience in words. The accomplishment of such creation catapulted Langston Hughes to be one of the most influential artists of the Harlem Renaissance who utilized aspects of his life as inspiration for his poetry.

Langston Hughes was the first poet to combine African American artistic forms, such as blues and jazz, with poetry. Due to the Great Migration, the blues of the south slowly emerged in the major cities of the North, like New York City’s Harlem. Hughes was ensnared by the rhythm...

... middle of paper ...

...ring the times. The African American spirit was alive in the blues and Langston drew that spirit into his poetry. Langston Hughes’ work was filled with the plight he suffered, the inequality of the ideal and the reality of American, and the dreams he aspired for his people and his country. Reading this major figure of the Harlem Renaissance today can bring the reader back in time to an era whose dreams longed for the world we have today.

Works Cited

Barksdale, Richard. Langston Hughes: The Poet And His Critics. Chicago: American

Library Association, 1951.

“Langston Hughes: Poems Themes.” GradeSaver.com. Grade Saver LLC, 1999 -2014. 21 April

2014. http://www.gradesaver.com/langston-hughes-poems/study-guide/major-themes/

Rampersad, Arnold. Hughes, Langston. The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes. United States:

The First Vintage Classics Edition, 1994. Print.