Research Guides: Langston Hughes: Biography

Langston Hughes (February 1, 1902 - May 22, 1967)

In 1921, when Hughes arrived as a student at Columbia University, he learned that the school had an unstated policy not to house black students. Though the university’s authorities reluctantly assigned Hughes a room, the event set the tone for the one year that he spent there. Hughes continued his formal education in 1926 when he enrolled at Lincoln University in Pennsylvania. During his university years, he published The Weary Blues (1926), Fire (1926), and Fine Clothes to the Jew (1927). He graduated from Lincoln University in 1929. As an adult, Hughes, like his mother, was a drifter, rarely staying in one place long enough to establish roots. In 1923, Hughes began his world travel with a trip to Africa, a journey that he recounts in The Big Sea. Continue . . .

Source: Franks, Carol. “Langston Hughes.” Critical Survey of American Literature, Dec. 2016, pp. 1403–1412. From Literary Reference Center Plus database.

eBook Collection

Letters From Langston : From the Harlem Renaissance to the Red Scare and Beyond

Resources

The Poetry of Hughes A summary and analysis of the poetry of Langston Hughes.
Langston Hughes + Poetry = The Blues Journal article by Yusef Komunyakaa.

The Dream Keeper and Other Poems by Langston Hughes "HOLD FAST TO DREAMS / For if dreams die / Life is a broken-winged bird / That cannot fly." The Dream Keeper, the great African-American writer Langston Hughes's only collection of poems for children, includes some of his best loved works. It is being reissued in a handsome hardcover edition in celebration of its 75th anniversary. Filled with elegant scratchboard illustrations by Caldecott Honor winner Brian Pinkey, and featuring an introduction by noted children's poet Lee Bennett Hopkins...,

The Harlem of Langston Hughes' Poetry Journal article by Arthur P. Davis.

From Films On Demand database:

Langston Hughes Hughes wrote of the beauty, dignity, and heritage of blacks in America. Interviews, music, and dance performances convey his work and influence, discussed by James Baldwin and biographer Arnold Rampersad.
Hughes’ Dream Harlem Known as “Harlem’s poet laureate,” Langston Hughes was one of the most prominent figures of the Harlem Renaissance. This lyrical program celebrates Hughes’ life and work, offering a vision of the esteemed poet in present-day Harlem and making a case for his impact on hip-hop music and the contemporary spoken-word community. Narrated by Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee, the multilayered presentation includes roundtable discussions of Hughes’ contributions with poet Sonia Sanchez, music producer Damon Dash, and others, and a tour of his New York City haunts. (61 minutes)
Langston Hughes: Working Toward Salvation This outstanding two-part series brings together an excellent production of Langston Hughes’s short story "Salvation" and thought-provoking interviews with author Alice Walker and Hughes biographer Arnold Rampersad. 2-part series, 26–31 minutes each.
American Passages: A Literary Survey - Langston Hughes Rhythms in Poetry—American Passages: A Literary Survey. Alice Walker describes her relationship with Langston Hughes. Hughes' lived with his grandmother in Missouri and began writing poetry at age 12. Hear an excerpt from "The Weary Blues."
Langston Hughes: His Life and Times In this program, Pulitzer Prize winner Alice Walker and renowned Langston Hughes biographer Arnold Rampersad talk about the “poet laureate of Harlem” with award-winning filmmaker Bruce Schwartz. Together they discuss experiences that shaped young Langston, how he came to be a writer, the beauty of his writing style, his practice of reaching out to aspiring writers, and the Harlem Renaissance as a literary and cultural watershed. They also discuss the force of religion in Southern Christian African-American communities, and “Salvation,” Hughes’s coming-of-age story, deftly brought to the screen by Schwartz. (26 minutes)
Langston Hughes: African Americans Who Left their Stamp on History An American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist, Langston Hughes was first recognized as an important literary figure during the 1920s, a period known as the "Harlem Renaissance," a cultural movement made famous because of the number of emerging black writers, poets and scholars. Hughes, more than any other black poet or writer, recorded faithfully the nuances of black life and its frustrations and was one of the earliest innovators of the then-new literary art form called jazz poetry. Embracing the common experience of black Americans, he was the bard of his people because he felt their joys and suffering himself. Hughes lived in several US cities, then traveled abroad extensively, first as a seaman, later as a war correspondent. Renowned for his folksy humor, his work was well received by a black audience who saw themselves in his characters. In 1934 Hughes first short story collection The Ways of White Folks, was published. It looked at the humorous and tragic interactions between races, but was tinged with pessimism. He went on to write countless works of poetry, prose and plays and had a popular column for the Chicago Defender. Hughes was a literary giant, always faithful to his belief that "most people are generally good, in every race and in every country where I have been." In 1960, the NAACP awarded Hughes the Spingarn Medal for distinguished achievement by a black American, calling him the "poet laureate of the Negro race."
Langston Hughes & Introduction to Rochester Riot A selection from Langston Hughes' poem, "The South," describes in personification and graphic imagery the feelings of a black southerner migrating north. Those who remember the Rochester riot attempt to identify the inciting incident.