Langston Hughes Life - Essay Example

LANGSTON HUGHES Langston Hughes was born in Joplin, Missouri in the year 1902. As a small child, his parents had a divorce whereby his father went to Mexico. Until the age of thirteen, Hughes lived with his grandmother but later on went to live with his mother in Lincoln, Illinois, where he began he started poetry writing. By then, his mother was already married to another man. Eventually the family decided to move and settle at Cleveland, Ohio and Hughes joined high school. He was then elected as a class poet although he thought in his mind that it was due to the stereotype of African Americans having rhythm.“ I was a victim of a stereotype…. Well, everyone knows, except us, that all Negroes have rhythm, so they elected me as class poet” (Johnson, p.138)." He also wrote newspapers for the school, wrote plays, short stories, and edited the year book. It was at this time in high school when he realized that he had a passion for books and wrote “when Sue Wears Red”, his first jazz poetry. In 1919, he briefly lived with his father in Mexico although the relationship between the two was poor. In 1920 Hughes went back to his father with hopes that he would help him enroll to Colombia University. Initially, before arriving to Mexico, Hughes states that he had been thinking about his father and the strange dislike of his own people. Hughes did not understand it because he was a Negro and liked Negros very much (Hughes and McLaren, p.65). His father had plans of taking him to a university overseas to make a career in engineering and not become a writer. At some point they came into a compromise whereby Hughes agreed to study engineering only if his father would allow him to attend Colombia University. Hughes has struggled since childhood to fit in the United States as an African American. At a young age, he did not have an easy life and racism encounters was the order of the day though he decided to remain loyal to his own heritage. He had due respect for his background as an African American to an extent of using his racial pride as the base of his works. The struggles in his life shaped him into becoming both a poet and an inspiring leader to the African American people. Having struggled in making a living, he finally figured out what he really wanted to do by stating in his autobiography that he wanted to write seriously and as well as he knew how about the Negro people. This is what gave Hughes an establishment of his own style; a style that would give a reflection about his personal African American experiences whereby race had its own inequalities (Hughes and McLaren, 66). Hughes sought out a communism world, one with an ideology that offers to establish classless views, lack of social status and get rid of segregation in the society. The political views regarding racial discrimination were a major obstacle in Hughes’ life. This enabled him to express his opinions and perception about issue facing the colored people in America through his works. Hughes wrote in a respectable way to demonstrate to his fellow black writers the significance of writing educative works rather than criticize harshly. I n the year 1924, went to back to the United States did odd jobs like a busboy and an assistant cook at a restaurant in Washington where he met Vachel Lindsay, an American poet. Hughes decided to show some of his poet work to Lindsay who was fascinated enough to make connections and promote Hughes’ work for a larger audience (Baxter, p.45). That same year, his poem “Weary Blues” won a prize in the literary competition of the opportunity magazine. He was also lucky to receive a scholarship to enroll at Lincoln University in Pennsylvania. Again, Hughes poems caught the attention of novelist Carl Van Vetchten, who also made connections for Hughes and the following year his first poetry book weary blues was published. The first time that Hughes gained recognition as a recommendable literature figure was in 1920s, a time for “Harlem Renaissance” when numerous black writers emerged. In 1926, a writer of New York Herald Tribune, Du Bose Heyward wrote "Langston Hughes, although only twenty-four years old, is already conspicuous in the group of Negro intellectuals who are dignifying Harlem with a genuine art life. . . .”. (Baxter, 56). In 1929, Hughes graduated from Lincoln and published his first novel, Not without laughter. The publication of the book was such a success that he was convinced he could actually make a living through writing. In the 1930s, he travelled all over United States to the Soviet Union and lecture tours. In1934, he made a publication of his first short stories well known as The Ways of White Folks. As he travelled around the world and becoming famous due to his poems, he had also accomplished in other areas of writing. He was a master in dramas whereby his plays would easily offer him a place in America’s literary history (Baxter). Hughes poems were also in lyrical form and this gave him an opportunity to write plays and operas. Hughes made a contribution to the lyrics for Street Scene, a Broadway musical that featured Kurt Weill’s music. This musical made remarkable success that he purchased a house in Harlem with the money that he had earned. Decade after decade his profile continued to rise. He wrote an inspirational play that resulted to the Troubled Island. Mulatto is another huge play that premiered an opera going by the name “The Barrier” in the year 1950 ( Mikolyzk, p. 23). This gave him so much inspiration to write that he managed to complete a poetry book about life in Harlem. In the 1967, Hughes passed on due to prostrate cancer complications. By paying tribute to his poetry, little was said as spoken eulogy in his funeral but the air was filled with blues and jazz music. His ashes were placed beneath the entrance to Arthur Schomburg Center for Research. To mark the spot, a line from his poem The Negroes Speaks of Rivers was scripted as follows “My soul has grown deep like the rivers." His home in Harlem got a New York City status and was also added to the national register of places in the year 1981. The street to his residence, East 127th street in Harlem was renamed Langston Hughes Place (Baxter, p.89). Hughes first made an attempt to reach to his audience by reading in his poems in public. This way, he would give them an opportunity to criticize but get to understand his background and culture through what he had written. Hughes was a huge fan of Walt Witman’s works such that he often insisted on the significance of an individual worth. Just like Witman’s poetry, Hughes common theme in his early poems was racial pride and heritage. He clearly states that a poet is a human being who must live within the boundaries of his country (Jan, p.335). He did this through writing so well as if he had a mission of bringing them together. Hughes was such an inspiration to people living in his culture and readers of his works as well. He was seen as the most inspirational of African American writers owing to his diverse literal publications (Baxter, p.44). He had a way of creating a safe haven to the people by encouraging them and giving them hope especially those who struggled during segregation and the slaves as well. By reading his poems and other writings, these people knew that they had one of their own, a person who felt the same hurt as they did, and who believed that their struggles would be over. He became inspirational to many throughout the segregation years. Hughes was a writer who managed to cheer up the lives of those affected by the complications racism had brought in America. A historical guide once wrote, “Langston Hughes was perhaps the most wide ranging and persistent black American writer in the twentieth century” (Tracy, p.23). By honoring his culture, Hughes had written great books including, The first book of Rhythms, American Negroes and Famous American Negroes among others. In 1960, he was awarded a Spingarn medal for “the greatest contribution to the betterment of the black cause in America” (Mikolyzk, p.27). Works Cited Baxter, Miller R., ed. The Short Stories. Columbia. Columbia, Missouri: London University of Missouri Press, 2002. Print. Hughes, Langston and McLaren, Joseph (Ed.). The Collected Works of Langston Hughes. New York: Oxford University Press, 2004. Print. Jan, Onofrio. Missouri Biographical Dictionary (Third Edition) Hamdon, Connecticut: Archon Books, 2001. Print. Johnson, George D. Profiles In Hue. London: Xlibris Corporation, 2011. Print. Mikolyzk, Thomas A. Langston Hughes, A Bio-bibliography. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1990. Print. Tracy, Steven C., ed. A Historical Guide to Langston Hughes. New York: Oxford University Press, 2004. Print. Read More