Langston Hughes
Langston Hughes was born in Joplin, Missouri on February 1,1902. His parents were James and Carrie Huges. Soon after Langston was born, his parents separated and his father moved to Mexico. Langston traveled with his mother, a singer and dancer. When he was older, his mother left him with his grandmother; his grandmother told him stories of his ancestors. Langston's grandfather, Lewis Sheridan Leary rode with John Brown; two of his uncles were Buffalo Soldiers; another uncle, John Mercer Langston was the first colored American to hold office and was later elected to Congress. Langston's grandmother had helped on the Underground Railroad.
Langston was introduced to poetry when he was in high school. His classmates voted him to write the poem for their graduating ceremony, because they felt that all colored people had rhythm which is needed in poetry. Langston discovered that he enjoyed writing poetry through this experience.
Langston moved to Harlem, New York in 1921, when he was ninteen. He attended Lincoln University, a small colored college near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1926. In 1931, his writing, Not Without Laughter won the Harmon Gold Award for distinguished colored literature. Its prize of four hundred dollars was the most money Langston ever made.
When he was 29, he and Zell Ingram, an artist, went to Haiti and Cuba. While in Haiti, it was suggested to Langston that he lie about his skin color because magazines were taking his poetry, but not paying because of his race. Langston refused, saying, "It wasn't right."
When he returned to the United States, he met Mary McLeod Bethune. She encouraged him to tour the South, reading his poetry, "People need poetry," she said. Langston took her advice; he traveled to seventeen states in one season.
During the 1920's, many colored citizens began to move from the South to the North in search of a better life. Most moved to Harlem, New York; Langston Hughes was among them. At the same time our government passed laws against drinking alcohol, this was called Prohibition. Because of this, many whites began to visit the nightclubs of Harlem, and they heard a new form of music called jazz. Whites became very interested in what the colored people of Harlem were doing. Out of this came the Harlem Renaissance. There was a burst of literature, art and music from the citizens of Harlem. If it had not been for the Harlem Renaissance, Langston Hughes would most likely never have been recognized. When the Stock Market crashed it brought the end of the Harlem Renaissance, many of the poets and authors faded away. Langston was the only writer to survive the end of the Harlem Renaissance.
In June of 1928, Langston was to write the dialogue for a movie, it was to be filmed in Russia. The movie was a flop, but Langston stayed in Russia. He liked how he was treated as an equal. Later he returned to the United States because of Communist rule.
When the Spanish Civil War broke out in 1936, Langston went over to Spain as a foreign correspondent for the "Baltimore", "Afro-American" and the "Cleveland Call and Post." When he returned to New York, Langston, with a loan from the Author's League Fund, opened a theater with the help of Louise Thompson, a close friend. It was named "The Harlem Suitcase Theatre." Langston wrote a one-act poetry play called "Don't You Want to be Free?" It was a hit. Encouraged by his success Langston would later open colored theatres in Chicago and Los Angeles.
When World War ll spread to the United States in 1941, Langston fought with words and bought war bonds. He gave speeches against segregation and wrote "Brothers", a radio script about racial equality, and the lyrics for "Freedom Road", a song for black soldiers.
At age fifty-eight, Langston was awarded the Spingarn Medal, given by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Langston was the first colored person in the United States to be admitted to P.E.N., the International Writers Organization. He was the second to be elected to the National Institute of Arts and Letters, one of the highest honors an American artist can achieve. In the 1960's, he traveled to Europe and Africa as a cultural emissary for the State Department.
Langston Hughes died on May 22, 1967. He was sixty-five.
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