Words Like Freedom - Música

February 1 1902 - May 22 1967 Born In Joplin Missouri James Langston Hughes Was A Member Of An Abolitionist Family. He Was The Great-Great-Grandson Of Charles Henry Langston Brother Of John Mercer Langston Who Was The First Black American To Be Elected To Public Office In 1855. Hughes Attended Central High School In Cleveland Ohio But Began Writing Poetry In The Eighth Grade And Was Selected As Class Poet. His Father Didn't Think He Would Be Able To Make A Living At Writing And Encouraged Him To Pursue A More Practical Career. He Paid His Son's Tuition To Columbia University On The Grounds He Study Engineering. After A Short Time Langston Dropped Out Of The Program With A B Average All The While He Continued Writing Poetry. His First Published Poem Was Also One Of His Most Famous "The Negro Speaks Of Rivers" And It Appeared In Brownie's Book. Later His Poems Short Plays Essays And Short Stories Appeared In The NAACP Publication Crisis Magazine And In Opportunity Magazine And Other Publications. One Of Hughes' Finest Essays Appeared In The Nation In 1926 Entitled "The Negro Artist And The Racial Mountain". It Spoke Of Black Writers And Poets "who Would Surrender Racial Pride In The Name Of A False Integration " Where A Talented Black Writer Would Prefer To Be Considered A Poet Not A Black Poet Which To Hughes Meant He Subconsciously Wanted To Write Like A White Poet. Hughes Argued "no Great Poet Has Ever Been Afraid Of Being Himself." He Wrote In This Essay "We Younger Negro Artists Now Intend To Express Our Individual Dark-Skinned Selves Without Fear Or Shame. If White People Are Pleased We Are Glad. If They Aren't It Doesn't Matter. We Know We Are Beautiful. And Ugly Too... If Colored People Are Pleased We Are Glad. If They Are Not Their Displeasure Doesn't Matter Either. We Build Our Temples For Tomorrow As Strong As We Know How And We Stand On The Top Of The Mountain Free Within Ourselves." In 1923 Hughes Traveled Abroad On A Freighter To The Senegal Nigeria The Cameroons Belgium Congo Angola And Guinea In Africa And Later To Italy And France Russia And Spain. One Of His Favorite Pastimes Whether Abroad Or In Washington D.C. Or Harlem New York Was Sitting In The Clubs Listening To Blues Jazz And Writing Poetry. Through These Experiences A New Rhythm Emerged In His Writing And A Series Of Poems Such As "The Weary Blues" Were Penned. He Returned To Harlem In 1924 The Period Known As The Harlem Renaissance. During This Period His Work Was Frequently Published And His Writing Flourished. In 1925 He Moved To Washington D.C. Still Spending More Time In Blues And Jazz Clubs. He Said "I Tried To Write Poems Like The Songs They Sang On Seventh Street... These Songs Had The Pulse Beat Of The People Who Keep On Going." At This Same Time Hughes Accepted A Job With Dr. Carter G. Woodson Editor Of The Journal Of Negro Life And History And Founder Of Black History Week In 1926. He Returned To His Beloved Harlem Later That Year. Langston Hughes Received A Scholarship To Lincoln University In Pennsylvania Where He Received His B.A. Degree In 1929. In 1943 He Was Awarded An Honorary Lit.D By His Alma Mater A Guggenheim Fellowship In 1935 And A Rosenwald Fellowship In 1940. Based On A Conversation With A Man He Knew In A Harlem Bar He Created A Character Know As My Simple Minded Friend In A Series Of Essays In The Form Of A Dialogue. In 1950 He Named This Lovable Character Jess B. Simple And Authored A Series Of Books On Him. Langston Hughes Was A Prolific Writer. In The Forty-Odd Years Between His First Book In 1926 And His Death In 1967 He Devoted His Life To Writing And Lecturing. He Wrote Sixteen Books Of Poems Two Novels Three Collections Of Short Stories Four Volumes Of "editorial" And "documentary" Fiction Twenty Plays Children's Poetry Musicals And Operas Three Autobiographies A Dozen Radio And Television Scripts And Dozens Of Magazine Articles. In Addition He Edited Seven Anthologies. The Long And Distinguished List Of Hughes' Works Includes Not Without Laughter 1930 The Big Sea 1940 I Wonder As I Wander" 1956 His Autobiographies. His Collections Of Poetry Include The Weary Blues 1926 The Negro Mother And Other Dramatic Recitations 1931 The Dream Keeper 1932 Shakespeare In Harlem 1942 Fields Of Wonder 1947 One Way Ticket 1947 The First Book Of Jazz 1955 Tambourines To Glory 1958 And Selected Poems 1959 The Best Of Simple 1961 . He Edited Several Anthologies In An Attempt To Popularize Black Authors And Their Works. Some Of These Are An African Treasury 1960 Poems From Black Africa 1963 New Negro Poets USA 1964 And The Best Short Stories By Negro Writers 1967 . Published Posthumously Were Five Plays By Langston Hughes 1968 The Panther And The Lash Poems Of Our Times 1969 And Good Morning Revolution Uncollected Writings Of Social Protest 1973 The Sweet Flypaper Of Life With Roy DeCarava 1984 . Langston Hughes Died Of Cancer On May 22 1967. His Residence At 20 East 127th Street In Harlem New York Has Been Given Landmark Status By The New York City Preservation Commission. His Block Of East 127th Street Was Renamed "Langston Hughes Place" .
By Andrew P. Jackson Sekou Molefi Baako Langston Hughes A Biography By Milton Meltzer 1968
Langston Hughes And Gwendolyn Brooks A Reference Guide By R. Baxter Miller 1979
Langston Hughes American Poet By Alice Walker 1974
Langston Hughes In The Hispanic World And Haiti By Edward J. Mullen 1977
The World Of Langston Hughes Music A Bibliography Of Musical Settings Of Langston Hughes' Works With Recordings And Other Listings By Kenneth Neilson 1982
Langston Hughes Before And Beyond Harlem By Faith Berry 1983
Langston Hughes And The Blues By Steven C. Tracy 1988
Langston Hughes Black Genius A Critical Evaluation Edited By Therman B. O'Daniel 1977
The Life Of Langston Hughes Vol. I 1902-194 Too Sing America And Vol. II 1941-1967 Dream A World By Arnold Rampersad 1986 From Http //www.Redhotjazz.Com/hughes.Html read less