Langston Hughes was one of the most important and influential writers of the Harlem Renaissance, a literary and artistic movement that took place in the 1920s and 1930s in the African American community of Harlem, New York. Born on February 1, 1902, in Joplin, Missouri, Hughes grew up in a family of educators and professionals. However, his parents separated when he was a child, and he spent most of his childhood with his grandmother in Lawrence, Kansas.
Hughes' early life was marked by poverty, racism, and the harsh realities of segregation. Nevertheless, he developed a love for literature and writing at an early age. He was an avid reader of the works of writers such as Edgar Allan Poe, Rudyard Kipling, and Paul Laurence Dunbar, and began writing poetry in his teenage years.
Hughes' poetry and prose were characterized by a deep concern for the lives and struggles of African Americans. He wrote about the beauty and resilience of black culture, as well as the pain and injustice of racism and discrimination. His work often celebrated the rhythms and language of African American vernacular, and he is credited with helping to establish the genre of jazz poetry.
Hughes was also deeply involved in the civil rights movement, using his writing to advocate for racial justice and equality. He wrote about the injustices faced by African Americans in the United States, as well as their resilience and resistance in the face of oppression. Hughes' work inspired and influenced many other writers and artists, both during his lifetime and in the decades that followed.
Langston Hughes passed away on May 22, 1967, at the age of 65. However, his legacy as a writer and a voice for social justice continues to resonate today. His poetry and prose continue to be celebrated and studied, and his influence can be seen in the work of countless other writers and artists. Langston Hughes remains an essential figure in the history of American literature and culture, and his contributions to the fight for racial equality continue to inspire and empower people around the world.
Quotes by Langston Hughes
- It's such a Bore Being always Poor.
- I will not take 'but' for an answer.
- Violent anger makes me physically ill.
- My soul has grown deep like the rivers.
- I must never write when I do not want to write.
- Humor is laughing at what you haven't got when you ought to have it.
- When peoples care for you and cry for you, they can straighten out your soul.
- I swear to the Lord, I still can't see, why Democracy means, everybody but me.
- Hold fast to dreams For when dreams go Life is a barren field Frozen with snow.
- My writing has been largely concerned with the depicting of Negro life in America.
- Hold fast to dreams, for if dreams die, life is a broken-winged bird that cannot fly.
- Writing is like travelling. It's wonderful to go somewhere, but you get tired of staying.
- Like a welcome summer rain, humor may suddenly cleanse and cool the earth, the air and you.
- What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up Like a raisin in the sun? Or does it explode?
- Perhaps the mission of an artist is to interpret beauty to people - the beauty within themselves.
- Let the rain kiss you. Let the rain beat upon your head with silver liquid drops. Let the rain sing you a lullaby.
- I have discovered in life that there are ways of getting almost anywhere you want to go, if you really want to go.
- An artist must be free to choose what he does, certainly, but he must also never be afraid to do what he might choose.
- One of the great needs of Negro children is to have books about themselves and their lives that can help them be proud.
- We Negro writers, just by being black, have been on the blacklist all our lives. Censorship for us begins at the color line.
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