ipl-logo

Langston Hughes Research Paper

1102 Words5 Pages

Langston hughes was the first african American to achieve national prominence, and figure of such stature in the black community. His influence and ideas were inescapable, as he saw himself as a poet for an entire nation. Hughes role model Walt Whitman, helped to give him the ideas of the optimistic vision of America and how to achieve and accomplish some of the things he did in his life. Langston Hughes inspired many people and expressed the African American spirt and soul in his works.

Langston Hughes was born on February 1, 1902 in Joplin, Missouri. He was the only son of James Nathaniel Hughes. His Father was absent for most of his youth and did not want to have anything to do with black culture. Then Hughes was brought to his …show more content…

In 1931 he went on a trip with twenty-two other African American authors to the Soviet Union. His work there was more towards the socialist side. In this decade he started to struggle financially, yet he still worked on a short fiction, “Not without laughter”, and several other plays. Later in the decade he made a trip to Spain to cover the Spanish Civil War for the “Baltimore American”. This trip showed Hughes all the fascism and the duplicity in communist party. Even though Hughes had financial troubles he did some fine work in this …show more content…

In World War II, Hughes love for his country and recognition of Hitler’s treatment of minorities led him to join the Office of Civil Defense and Writers War committee In support of the allies against the axis powers. Later in 1941, Hughes moved to Harlem. This gave him some of the motivation he needed to put into his work. Then he started his works on Jesse B. Semple or “simple”. Then using his works on Jesse B. Semple he started a column on “The Chicago Defender” and “The New York Post”. Hughes also published his autobiography in 1940, “The Big Sea” and published his second volume in 1956 called “I wonder as I wander”. Most of his popular works on black culture were in these two decades. The first one was in 1949, called “The Poetry of the Negro”. The second and third one ones were called “A Pictorial History of the Negroes in America” and ”The Book of Negro Folklore” written in 1956 and 1958. Hughes also recognized the primal power of the blues. He used the blues for his most illuminating poetry about the black

Show More
Related

Black History Month Essay

410 Words | 2 Pages

Langston Hughes is a very famous and popular name in American literature. Langston Hughes was a poet, playwright, and columnist. Hughes was born in Joplin Missouri on February 1st 1902. Langston’s first and most popular piece of work “The Negro Speak of Rivers” was published in a very popular black journal, which allowed the everyday person to read his work. Langston Hughes was very well known in the Harlem Renaissance.

Read More

How Did Carl Van Vechten Influence The Harlem Renaissance

1406 Words | 6 Pages

Hughes felt grateful to Van Vechten as he dedicated his second book to him. ALthough he seemed to have a genuine interest in Hughes Van Vechten may have had his own reasons for helping the aspiring artist. “ An open homosexual, Van Vechten might have been attracted to the handsome young poet; he was first and foremost fascinated with African American culture, and the modernist aspirations of the "younger generation" of Negro writers.”

Read More

How Did Langston Hughes Influence Society

1205 Words | 5 Pages

James Mercer Langston Hughes was the first African American to achieve national prominence, and the figure of such stature in the black community. His influence and ideas were inescapable, as he saw himself as a poet for an entire nation. Hughes role model, Walt Whitman helped to give him the ideas of the optimistic vision of America and how to achieve and accomplish some of the things he did in his life. Langston Hughes inspired many people and expressed the African American spirt and soul in his works.

Read More

The Poet: Langston Hughes During The Harlem Renaissance

286 Words | 2 Pages

James Mercer Langston Hughes, better known as Langston Hughes was one of the most prominent authors in during the Harlem Renaissance. He was born on February 1, 1902 in Joplin, Missouri to Carrie Langston and James Hughes, who both separated shortly after his birth. Hughes lived with his maternal grandmother, Mary, until thirteen when she died. He then moved in with his mother in Cleveland, Ohio. This is when he started writing poetry.

Read More

How Did Langston Hughes Influence African Americans

735 Words | 3 Pages

Hughes’s grandmother was a prideful black woman, and she instilled racial pride in Langston (Henderson). The separation from his mother and father caused Langston to often feel abandoned, so he found himself at an early age turning to books to escape his reality (Rampersad). In his biography, The Big Sea, Langston recalled “even before I was six, books began to happen to me, so that after a while there came a time when I believed in books more than people — which, of course, was wrong.” In high school, Hughes’s poetic skill was already developed and evident, with him being elected class poet and publishing works in the school paper (Howes 204). His early poems reflected influence from Carl Sandburg and Walt Whitman, whom he had learned in about school and admired greatly.

Read More

Langston Hughes Research Paper

552 Words | 3 Pages

Langston Hughes was a successful leader in the Harlem Renaissance and conjunctively wrote many powerful pieces. Langston lived an unstable childhood. James Mercer Langston Hughes was born on February 1st, 1902 in Joplin, Missouri. His mother, Caroline Mercer Langston, was a teacher for a nearby school.

Read More

Langston Hughes 'Let America Be America Again And' On The Road

1184 Words | 5 Pages

Langston Hughes was an American poet during the nineteenth century, best known for his writing of "Harlem," "Let America Be America Again," and "On the Road. " Hughes' literary work typically highlighted the harsh reality of racism between white and black American citizens during the early 1900s. Through his short story "On the Road," Hughes spread awareness through a new perspective that showed the African Americans' side of a complex time in history. Following the protagonist, Sargeant, the reader gets a first-hand experience of living in America as a person of color.

Read More

How Did Langston Hughes Influence The American Dream

922 Words | 4 Pages

The culture of most blacks was unwanted during this time. For this reason Hughes desired to make a change and illustrate such cultural identities in his poems. In doing this he caused a shift in ideas among all people. Although the change didn’t happen immediately it did eventually occur. With that said the African American people were given less of an opportunity at jobs, schooling, and most importantly culture.

Read More

Langston Hughes Refugee In America

921 Words | 4 Pages

Langston Hughes was a poet, author, and civil rights movement leader who was born in Missouri, on February 1st, 1902. His most famous piece of work is his poem, “The Negro Speaks of Rivers”. Hughes tells a story throughout the course of his writing, especially in two other poems called “I, Too” and “Refugee in America”. These three poems play hand in hand in figuring out Hughes life journey. His life journey helps people have an understanding about what others went through as well as reflecting on the past and changing it.

Read More

Langston Hughes Research Paper

1555 Words | 7 Pages

Throughout the majority of his life, he created many famous writing pieces including Not Without Laughter, The Big Sea, The Poetry of a Negro, and numerous plays, books, and poems . Many of works highlight the hardships for African Americans during this time period in the United States (Johnson). In addition, Howard University awarded Hughes with an honorary doctorate in 1963. Also, in 2002, Langston Hughes was included on a distinguished list of the 100 Greatest African Americans. In short, Langston Hughes was an extraordinary person who changed the world considerably during his time period

Read More

Langston Hughes Civil Rights Movement

1531 Words | 7 Pages

On his way there he wrote one of his most famous poems, “The Negro Speaks of Rivers.” This would be his first published work, and would appear in the magazine Crisis when he was only 19. His father agreed to fund Hughes’ first year at Columbia, but due to difficulties in receiving the funds from his father, challenges with the administration and fellow students because of his race, he left at the end of his first year. However, while he was studying at Columbia, he visited Harlem, New York for the first time.

Read More

The Works Of Langston Hughes During The Harlem Renaissance

1745 Words | 7 Pages

Yet, they were nowhere near acceptance because the one thing that divided America was color. It was and is a problem when one is black in America. Hughes wrote one of his most popular pieces of work during this time, a poem

Read More

The New Negro Movement: The Harlem Renaissance

1148 Words | 5 Pages

Aside from his highly praised works such as “I, Too” and “The Weary Blues,” Hughes faced heavy criticism for his more in-depth poems. Surprisingly, the judgement came from fellow black writers. Hughes was already under the watchful eye of a few of these famed writers at the early age of twenty-four (“Langston Hughes”). What set him apart from other writers at his age, was that Hughes was in love with the good and bad sides of being black in America. Most black writers wanted to take the beauty of being black and magnify it.

Read More

Langston Hughes: A Black Poet In The Harlem Renaissance

469 Words | 2 Pages

Langston Hughes Langston Hughes was a black poet in the Harlem Renaissance (Hughes, Langston). Most of Hughes’ writings were about segregation and racism during his time (Hughes, Langston). He wrote plays, books, and stories, but Hughes is most famous for his poems. Langston Hughes was a very inspiring poet, and was a civil rights activist and he spoke his thoughts through his works.

Read More

Three Major Themes In Langston Hughes's Poetry

1089 Words | 5 Pages

Langston Hughes was an American poem born in the early nineteen hundreds, who became known as the leader of the Harlem Renaissance. He published many poems that brought light to the life of people of color in the twentieth century. There are three poems that the speakers are used to portray three major themes of each poem. Racism, the American Dream, and Hopes are all the major themes that Hughes uses to highlight the average life of a person of color. Theme for English B,” “Harlem,” and “Let America Be America Again” were three of Hughes’s poems that was selected to underline the themes.

Read More

More about Langston Hughes Research Paper

Related Topics

Open Document