Langston Hughes
James Langston Hughes
James Langston Hughes, to whom we know him as Langston Hughes, was born on February 1, 1902 in Joplin Missouri. Langston Hughes made his mark in the world during the 1920s, a period known as the Harlem Renaissance.
The Harlem Renaissance was a literary, artistic, cultural, intellectual movement that began in Harlem, New York after World War I and ended around 1935 during the Great Depression.
When Hughes was a child, his parent were divorced and he lived with his father in mexico and for a time his grandmother. Then he moved to Lincoln, Illinois to live with his mother and her new husband. and from there they moved to Cleveland,Ohio. He went to high school there and was greatly respected by his peers. It was in High school that he found that he had a talent with poetry. He started writting poetry and submitting it to magazines in New York but they were all rejected. And that wouldn't be his only let down.
After high school Hughes spent a year in mexico with his father and then attended Columbia University in New York. He wasnt very well like there because of his race and his poetry wasn't taken seriously a lot of times because of that as well. Much to his father's displeasure he left Columbia University to dabble in the arts which included writing and Jazz/Blues. Langston Hughes first poem was called "The Negro Speaks of Rivers." Hughes went on to greatly help shape the Harlem Renaissance into what we know it to be today James Langston Hughes, to whom we know him as Langston Hughes, was born on February 1, 1902 and died May 22, 1967, in New York due to complications from prostate cancer.
The Harlem Renaissance was a literary, artistic, cultural, intellectual movement that began in Harlem, New York after World War I and ended around 1935 during the Great Depression.
When Hughes was a child, his parent were divorced and he lived with his father in mexico and for a time his grandmother. Then he moved to Lincoln, Illinois to live with his mother and her new husband. and from there they moved to Cleveland,Ohio. He went to high school there and was greatly respected by his peers. It was in High school that he found that he had a talent with poetry. He started writting poetry and submitting it to magazines in New York but they were all rejected. And that wouldn't be his only let down.
After high school Hughes spent a year in mexico with his father and then attended Columbia University in New York. He wasnt very well like there because of his race and his poetry wasn't taken seriously a lot of times because of that as well. Much to his father's displeasure he left Columbia University to dabble in the arts which included writing and Jazz/Blues. Langston Hughes first poem was called "The Negro Speaks of Rivers." Hughes went on to greatly help shape the Harlem Renaissance into what we know it to be today James Langston Hughes, to whom we know him as Langston Hughes, was born on February 1, 1902 and died May 22, 1967, in New York due to complications from prostate cancer.
Interesting Facts
- Langston Hughes was in to some of the political philosophies of the Communist Party, but he never joined. a
- Langston Hughes was cremated
- Langston Hughes refused to write fantasy. He wanted to only write what he knew
"The Negro Speaks of Rivers"
I've known rivers:
I've known rivers ancient as the world and older than the
flow of human blood in human veins.
My soul has grown deep like the rivers.
I bathed in the Euphrates when dawns were young.
I built my hut near the Congo and it lulled me to sleep.
I looked upon the Nile and raised the pyramids above it.
I heard the singing of the Mississippi when Abe Lincoln
went down to New Orleans, and I've seen its muddy
bosom turn all golden in the sunset.
I've known rivers:
Ancient, dusky rivers.
My soul has grown deep like the rivers.
I've known rivers ancient as the world and older than the
flow of human blood in human veins.
My soul has grown deep like the rivers.
I bathed in the Euphrates when dawns were young.
I built my hut near the Congo and it lulled me to sleep.
I looked upon the Nile and raised the pyramids above it.
I heard the singing of the Mississippi when Abe Lincoln
went down to New Orleans, and I've seen its muddy
bosom turn all golden in the sunset.
I've known rivers:
Ancient, dusky rivers.
My soul has grown deep like the rivers.