James Mercer Langston Hughes

1. “Hold fast to dreams, for if dreams die, life is a broken-winged bird that cannot fly.” James Mercer Langston Hughes By Conor Smith 1902-1967

2. Family Background • Mary Langston=grandmother (virtually his real mother, she dies in1915) • Hughes had three siblings; he had another one but the baby died at child birth • His mother was Carolina Mercer Langston; she was a transient mother who only cared for Langston for brief periods of time; this is because she moved to find work, which in the end didn’t help enough • James Hughes= father; he left the U.S and deserted his family to escape racial problems (he later becomes a layer)

3. Early life • Langston Hughes was born in Joplin, Missouri, on 1st February, 1902 • From 1903 to 1915 he lived mostly in Lawrence with his grandmother, Mary Langston, who was very poor • From 1915-1919 he lived with his mother, they went from town to town for a while until they settled in Ohio • His grandmother taught him about Frederick Douglass and Sojourner Truth and at an early age • Hughes became interested in poetry and was especially influenced by the work of Carl Sandburg and Walt Whitman. • While in grammar school in Lincoln, Hughes was elected class poet

4. Early life continued • Hughes graduated from high school in 1920 and spent the following year in Mexico with his father. During this time his father agreed to pay Langston’s tuition if Langston agreed to study engineering. • He attended Columbia University (1921-22) before working as a steward on a ship bound for Africa. • He left Columbia due to racial problems • Later he travelled through Italy, Holland, Spain and France before returning to New York City 

5. Some Published works • The Weary Blues (1926) •  Fine Clothes to the Jew (1927). • A novel, Not Without Laughter (1930), a collection of short-stories,  • The Ways of White Folks (1934) • A play, The Mulatto (1935) • Much of his work dealt with the effects of the Depression on the American people and race • Hughes also wrote for the Marxist journal, the New Masses and in 1937 reported on the Spanish Civil War. • He also had a essay, The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain, published in The Nation. The work was well-received and helped him win a scholarship to Lincoln University, Pennsylvania.

6. Interesting facts • On the train ride home from visiting his father in Mexico, he wrote his first poem “The Negro Speaks of Rivers,” published in the African American periodical Crisis in 1921. That same year he published his first play, The Gold Piece. • 9 years later he met Thurgood Marshall • He was a classmate of Langston Hughes during his undergraduate studies at Lincoln University. 

7. Death •  On May 22, 1967, Hughes died from complications after abdominal surgery, related to prostate cancer, at the age of 65. His ashes are interred beneath a floor medallion in the middle of the foyer in the Arthur Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem. It is the entrance to an auditorium named for him. The design on the floor covering his ashes is an African cosmogram titled Rivers. The title is taken from his poem, "The Negro Speaks of Rivers". Within the center of the cosmogram, above his ashes, is the line: "My soul has grown deep like the rivers". 

8. Poetic style • He liked to follow in rhythm: he inputted jazz into some of his work • Sometimes he was very philosophical and other times he was very straight forward • The mood of his poetry was all over the place, he used experiences from his life to write poetry, so sometimes it was dark and sometimes it was happy

9. A Dream Deferred http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kz5ztWhvRws • What happens to a dream deferred? • Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun? Or fester like a sore-- And then run? Does it stink like rotten meat? Or crust and sugar over-- like a syrupy sweet? • Maybe it just sags like a heavy load. • Or does it explode? • Question: Have you ever deferred a dream, if so what was it

10. 50-50http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m25_uZfOLhQ • I'm all alone in this world, she said, Ain'tgot nobody to share my bed, Ain't got nobody to hold my hand- The truth of the matter's I ain't got no man. Big Boy opened his mouth and said, Trouble with you is You ain't got no head! If you had a head and used your mind You could have me with you All the time. She answered, Babe, what must I do? He said, Share your bed— And your money, too. • Question: When you get married, will you get a prenup?

11. Catch • Big Boy came Carrying a mermaid On his shoulders And the mermaid Had her tail Curved Beneath his arm. Being a fisher boy, He’d found a fish To carry— Half fish, Half girl To marry. • Question: Do you think your profession has an effect on who you marry?

12. Some Goodbye Poetry • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KyqwvC5s4n8