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Poems by Langston Hughes and their effect on Afro Americans
Langston Hughes themes in his writing
Poems by Langston Hughes and their effect on Afro Americans
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Langston Hughes Theme for English B James Mercer who we all knew as Langston Hughes, was born in Joplin, Missouri February 1, 1902. Right after Hughes was born his parents James Hughes and Carrie Langston, decided to separate. His father went his way and his mother she moved around a lot so his maternal grandmother raised him. Mary, Hughes grandmother had an impact that influenced him into writing poetry. After his grandmother passed he eventually went to stay with his mother where they got settled in Ohio. Hughes began writing poetry throughout his years in high school. Once Hughes graduated from high school some of his work began to be published in magazines. During his college years he became a very important key figure with his poetry …show more content…
The tone that is set is an uncertain attitude towards this assignment that his teacher had wanted them to do. It was a struggle for the narrator to do this assignment. Because he was the only African American student in his class would they really understand what his paper was about? Would they really understand the daily struggle of being African American? “It’s not easy to know what is true for you or me.”(p468) Even though he is a young African American student he is the same as the next no matter the color of his skin; he likes the same stuff as the next person. He’s trying to figure out life he’s trying to understand life all together and he has the right to he is still young he has time to figure it all …show more content…
His legacy still lives on 50 years later he is still remembered from his creative genius that was influenced by his life in New York City's Harlem, a primarily in an African American neighborhood. Even though growing up and not having the support of his father to become a writer he still accomplished it. All thanks to his maternal grandmother for the stories she told him when he was younger and it let his imagination go wild. His work now has the world’s imagination going wild people still read and reminisce on his work. Hughes was also influenced Paul Lawrence Dunbar, Carl Sandburg, and Walt
Updlike, John. "A&P." Literature. An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing. 12th Ed. X. J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia. 12th ed. Upper Saddle River: Pearson Education (US), 2012. 17-21. Print
Meyer, Michael, ed. The Bedford Introduction to Literature: Reading, Thinking, Writing. 5th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 1999.
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, and Langston was not even mentioned in his will.
Poetry, Drama, and the Essay. Ed. Joseph Terry. New York: Addison-Wesley Educational Publishers Inc, 2001.
Langston Hughes's stories deal with and serve as a commentary of conditions befalling African Americans during the Depression Era. As Ostrom explains, "To a great degree, his stories speak for those who are disenfranchised, cheated, abused, or ignored because of race or class." (51) Hughes's stories speak of the downtrodden African-Americans neglected and overlooked by a prejudiced society. The recurring theme of powerlessness leads to violence is exemplified by the actions of Sargeant in "On the Road", old man Oyster in "Gumption", and the robber in "Why, You Reckon?"
Paley, Grace. "Samuel." Literature for Composition: Essay, Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. 5th ed. Ed. Sylvan Barnet. New York: Longman, 2001. 190-192
Poetry was a big part of the Harlem Renaissance, especially black poetry. Poetry helped people get their emotions out and provided an outlet for many new and old African-Americans, and for Africans just arriving in the United States in Harlem. The Renaissance was filled with great poets including the great Langston Hughes. Hughes is the author of his own book The Weary Blues and the writer of the poems Not without Laughter and The Way of the White Folks. He believed in the beauty of the Africans, as stated on Shmoop “Hughes knew that black was beautiful.” He won the Harlem gold medal for literature for his literary work and helped shape the artists of the Harlem Renaissances contributions to the movement. Hughes was also the founder of three theaters meant as outlets for black actors and dramatists. The names of these theaters are the New Negro Theater, Langston Hughes Preforming Arts, and Black Arts (“Langston Hughes Founded Theaters”). Langston Hughes was a very popular and
... a recurring theme of the dream of equality. Hughes composed many poems and plays during the Harlem Renaissance and the Civil Rights Era, and his legacy continues to be evident throughout American culture. His words inspired many, and showcased the plight of African-Americans in that era. Hughes’ impact was memorable because he lead African-Americans into writing, much like other distinguished African-American authors of the Harlem Renaissance period. His voice was heard above most other authors of the 1920’s and 30’s, and he expressed his wishes for improved treatment of the black race and the eradication of segregation in the United States with lyrical, thought-provoking poetry and symbolic dramas. Hughes inspired many writers and social activists after him, and continues to be a prominent figure in the general and literary achievements in African-American history.
Ferguson, Margaret W., Salter, Mary J., and Stallworthy, Jon. The Norton Anthology of Poetry. fifth ed. N.p.: W.W. Norton, 2005. 2120-2121. 2 Print.
Hughes, Langston. "End." Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. Ed. X.J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia. 3rd Compact ed. New York: Longman, 2003. Pg.766.
He was born on February 01, 1902 in Joplin, Missouri. It was in Lincoln when Hughes began writing poetry(James 7). After graduation from high school, he spent a year in Mexico, followed by a year at Columbia University in New York city. By the time he started attending this school, he had already released his first poem “The Negro Speaks of Rivers”(Langston 2). After attending this school for a couple of years, he was traveling on the other side of the world doing several different types of jobs. He traveled to Africa and Europe working as a seaman for quite some time. He returned to the United States in 1924, where he had already made a name for himself (Biography 2). Langston Hughes addressed his poetry specifically to African Americans, speaking about their real life situations and feelings towards everything. “Hughes refused to differentiate between his personal experience and the
Greenblatt, Stephen, eds. The Norton Anthology English Literature. 9th ed. Crawfordsville: R.R. Donnelley & Sons, 2012. Print.
Poetry, Drama, and the Essay. Ed. Joseph Terry. New York: Addison-Wesley Educational Publishers Inc, 2001. 123-154.
His parents separated soon after his birth and his father moved to Mexico and Hughes lived with his grandmother until he was 13 years old. At the age of 13, he moved to Lincoln, Illinois to live with his mother and stepfather because his grandmother had passed away, which sparked the start of Hughes poetry (James Mercer Langston Hughes 1-2). Later, the family settled in Cleveland, Ohio and he graduated from a high school that had students, whose parents were foreign born, until the Negros came (Hughes, Langston. The Big Sea: 29). At the time Langston Hughes was in high school, America was fighting in World War I. Due to this, Americanism was being stressed and students were forced to go to the principal's office and be questioned about their beliefs of Americanism (Hughes, Langston. The Big Sea: 31). In 1920, he spent a year in Mexico and convinced his father to let him go Columbia University in New York. He left after one year because there was too much discrimination and became a part of the Harlem Renaissance Movement. After Hughes dropped out of Columbia in 1922, he
Meyer, Michael. The Bedford Introduction to Literature: Reading, Thinking, Writing. 10th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s. 2013. Print.