Response to Blogger Report
Response to Blogger Report
Langston
Hughes a very innovative man, who will forever be remembered for his great
poems, is a man that went through a lot to become noticeable. He was born on
February first in the year of 1902, he was born as James Mercer Langston
Hughes, but everyone knew him as Langston Hughes. He was born and raised by his
grandmother Mary Langston in Joplin, Missouri. He then moved to Kansas with his
mother Carrie Hughes, a teacher and his father James Hughes, a
lawyer.(Childhood). His parents separated soon after Hughes was born. He has
one brother, James Hughes, who moved to Mexico to escape the racial prejudice
in the United States of America. There are no other reports of him having any
other siblings.
During
his childhood, Hughes attended elementary school at Pickeney School. He then
moved to New York to attend school from fourth to sixth grade. Later on in
life, his grandmother died and he went to attend Columbia University, where he
studied engineering, but then a year later he left to work and traveled to make
money to support himself. He continued, from eighth grade, writing many poems
and other works (allpoetry.com). He was working on his auto biography when
someone named Vachel Linday then promoted his poetry. After his poems were
promoted he then returned to college by attending Lincoln University.
At
the University he published his first book of poems called The Weary blues in
1926 (Famous Poets and Poems). This was the break of his career. His very first
poem in that book was "The Negro Speaks of Rivers", one of his most famous works
out of many. He also used jazz rhythms and dialect to express what he was
trying to say in his poetry, essays, stories and plays. During his lifetime he
kept participating in events such as operas and black gospel music. He also
protested against injustice. To be able to let his voice be heard, he often
wrote about the turmoil that many African Americans went through. One of his
most famous works was known as "Simple". "Simple" talked
about such issues and was a very inspirational work of art (peoplesworld.org).
He
continued to write about how he felt about such racial discrimination and as he
continues he became very well known. He then completed a two-volume
autobiography. He won many awards during his life as well. In 1927 he received
the Palms magazine Intercollegiate Poetry Award, he also received a Guggenheim
Fellowship and a Rosen Wald Fellowship. In 1954 he won an award for the best
book on racial relations and in 1960 he won the Spingarn Medal from the NAACP.
(Answers.com) His most famous works are "I, Too Sing America", “The
Weary Blues" and “The Negro Speaks of Rivers"(biography.com). Not only was he famous for his poems, but he
was famous for his essay called "The Negro Artist and the Racial
Mountain", which appeared in the Nation in 1926(redhotjazz.com). Langston
Hughes died on May 22, 1967, he never married and he had no children. His last
work of art was "Black Misery", he died while working on the manuscript
(aalbc.com).
I
feel as though Langston Hughes will forever be the greatest male poet of that
time, even though many people believed that he was homosexual. He grew up in
the Jim Crow era and he was still able to execute what he wanted to say. He did
not allow his hatred of racial discrimination to make him do things violently.
He wrote from his heart and while doing that he made sure that his point was
coming across. He expressed himself not violently but through a peaceful way.
That really inspires me because poetry has a say in issues as well and you do
not always be vocal when trying to express yourself. He will be along side with
many the other great and phenomenal poets, writers, even the African-American
activists.
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