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Humanities 1020 November 29, 2000 The Harlem Renaissance and Langston Hughes
The Harlem Renaissance was a great and powerful era in black history, “It was an
African American cultural movement of the 1920s and early 1930s that was
centered in the Harlem neighborhood of New York City” (“Harlem Renaissance”).
Langston Hughes wrote “Blues and Jazz flourished throughout the streets of New
York, and young black artists began to arise [. . .]” (63). An important part of
this era had to be the inspirational writings of Langston Hughes. James Mercer
Langston Hughes, born in Joplin, Missouri, February 1, 1902, was raised by his
grandmother after his parents divorced (Sporre 551). He graduated from high
school in Cleveland, Ohio and went off to Mexico to live with his father for
fifteen months (Jackson 1). While in Mexico, Hughes lived a very rural life and
wrote many of his first poems which, although never published, began to
distinguish him as a writer. Hughes attended Columbia University for one year,
then returned to home for a short period in 1923 before he joined the crew of
the SS Malone bound for Africa (“A Salute to Hughes”). From there he visited
many places including Paris, Venice and Genoa before once again returning to
America to live in Harlem, New York, in November 1924 (Andrews 65-69). While
working in Washington D.C. as a busboy, Hughes left three of his poems beside
the plate of Vachel Lindsey, an American poet, who liked Hughes’ poetry and
helped him publicize his writings (Jackson 3).
Hughes’ first book of poetry, The
Weary Blues, was published by Alfred A. Knopf in 1926 (“Langston Hughes”). He
was a great writer who completed a two volume autobiography, and edited many
anthologies and pictorial volumes. Hughes dazzled writing for forty years and
never gave up protesting for the rights of African Americans. He gave many
motivational speeches across the nation supporting the black movement. Hughes
continued his career publishing many books of poetry and prose. Langston Hughes
went on to inspire the world through his literature until his death in Harlem on
May 22, 1967 (Sporre 551). Living in Harlem, he soon discovered the culture and
literary circle of the Harlem Renaissance. As best said in the Norton Anthology
of African American Literature, “Hughes brought the spirit of the African
American people to life, using blues and jazz as the basis of his poetic
expressions [. . .]” (Andrews 1252). This is evident in some works such as The
Negro Speaks of Rivers, and The Weary Blues. Most of his influences came from
fellow black writers. Names such as, Dubois, Locke, Jesse Redmonfaset, Jean
Toomer, Arna Bontemps, and Carl Van Vechten, inspired Hughes in his form and
writing style (Andrews 929-930). His poems often portrayed the trials,
tribulations, struggles and thoughts of a young Negro growing up in the twenties
through sixties. His main goal was to express concern about the treatment of
African Americans in this country, and to pursue civil and social justice. One
of his most famous works is his continuing sage of Jesse B. Semple, also known
as Simple. Hughes wrote columns about this fictional character, who dealt with
very non-fictional problems. Jesse, who was really Hughes’ voice, expressed the
views and ideas of young black Americans (Andrews 1252-1253). Creating Simple to
be smart, strong witted and wise, allowed Hughes to publish and undermine the
standard of our pretentious society, while ironically and humorously pointing
out the hypocritical nature of American Racism (Andrews 1257-1263).
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