Source of Inspiration
Langston Hughes was an African American poet and playwright who wrote prolifically during the period known as the Harlem Renaissance. He is remembered for his lyrical poetry and plays that spoke to the experience of being black in America. He wrote more than 40 plays in his lifetime, spanning from his first work, “Mulatto” (1935), to his last, “Tambourines to Glory” (1963). These plays addressed such issues as racism, poverty, and sexism. His most famous plays are often musicals featuring jazz and blues, but he also wrote dramas that explored African American life and culture. Hughes’ works were often controversial, but highly acclaimed. He was visionary in his writing, looking forwards at how race and ethnicity could be explored and expressed in the arts.
Early Life and Influences
Langston Hughes was born in Joplin, Missouri in 1902. His parents divorced while he was still young, and he was raised by his grandmother. He traveled extensively during his early adult life, taking classes at Columbia University, traveling across Europe, and eventually settling in New York City in 1924. He was deeply inspired by the artistic and literary culture of Harlem — then the center of the African American cultural world — and his new home had a profound effect on his writing. He was heavily influenced by blues, jazz, and the prevailing philosophies of the Harlem Renaissance, including the thoughts of social reformers such as W.E.B. DuBois.
Theater Career
Started in 1935 with his play “Mulatto”, Hughes’s theatrical career covered more than two decades. He wrote both comedies and tragedies, often deploying blues, jazz, gospel music and folk tales in his works. Many of the works were collaborations with other artists, including composers, musicians, theatre directors, and dancers. Hughes was often criticized for his vision of a fictional “World of Darkness” that many interpreted as an exaggerated vision of African American characters and a distorted reality. Hughes sought to make black culture and identity accessible to wider audiences, and his plays served as a way to bring attention to what he perceived as a lack of social progress and a lack of knowledge about African American lives.
Legacy of Langston Hughes
In addition to his plays, Langston Hughes wrote more than 200 poems, novels, children’s stories, and essays. He was a leader in the Harlem Renaissance, which emphasized the interpretation and expression of the unique African American experience. Hughes’s plays were an important part of the movement, creating an accessible platform to discuss issues of civil rights and social progress. His works continue to be performed in theatres around the world and his legacy is still remembered by many.
Guiding Principles of His Writing
Langston Hughes’ writing was distinguished by his use of blues and jazz, and his focus on the struggle of African American characters. He wrote with an eye towards the larger historical narrative and sought to expose the truth of the African American experience – its joys, struggles, glories and sorrows alike. He often used irony, satire and allegory to draw attention to the contradictions in society, and to make his characters more nuanced than previously portrayed. Behind this outwardly creative approach was also a political message, one that aimed to bring social progress and equality to a world segregated by color and race.
Controversies and Criticisms
Not all of Langston Hughes’ works were met with critical acclaim. His play “Mulatto”, written in 1935, was controversial for its depiction of interracial relationships. He was also criticized for his progressivism, which many saw as too bold and idealistic. He was a target of McCarthyism, and many of his later works were met with harsh criticism from those who viewed his calls for social change as a threat. Despite these controversies, Hughes was an important contributor to the Harlem Renaissance and a pioneer in American literature.
Recognition and Awards
Langston Hughes was recognized for his influential body of work throughout his lifetime and beyond. He was given a Guggenheim fellowship in 1935, one of the earliest African American recipients of the prestigious prize. Later, he would receive many other honors, including a poetry prize from the National Institute of Arts and Letters. In 1975, the Langston Hughes Award was established in his honor, and is given each year to a playwright of exceptional merit.
Popular Plays and Music
Langston Hughes is perhaps best remembered for musicals and musical plays. His most popular works include “Black Nativity” (1959) and “Black Paradise: Make a Joyful Noise” (1961) which were performed for more than 25 years. He also wrote many albums, songs, and poems. His poem “A Dream Deferred” was set to music by jazz saxophonist John Coltrane and became a standard of the jazz world. His influence is also found in works of later generations of African American playwrights and performers, including August Wilson, Ntozake Shange, and the spoken-word artist Saul Williams.
International Influence
Langston Hughes’ works were internationally recognized and he was invited to lecture and perform internationally. He took part in the All-Soviet Writers’ Congress, a gathering of writers from the Soviet Union and other socialist states, in 1959. During his travels, he visited African countries, China, and Russia, and influenced writers, musicians and political leaders around the world. In his last years, he worked to ensure that his legacy lived on and that his works would continue to inspire readers and audiences.
A Lasting Legacy
Hughes’ impact is still strongly felt today, more than fifty years after his death in 1967. His works are still performed on stages around the world, inspiring audiences to consider questions of race, identity, and the power of art. Many of his plays remain in print and influence writers, scholars, and readers in their own work. He was a pioneer of American literature and continued to shape the conversation about race, identity, and social progress in the arts and in society at large.
Life Experiences Reflected in His Writing
Langston Hughes drew on the personal experiences of his own life in many of his works. He wrote of his vision of an idealized African American life, shaped by everything from his travels to his time spent in Harlem. He challenged the stereotypes of African Americans that were pervasive in many popular plays, and instead offered an expansive, nuanced vision of the African American experience. This nuanced portrayal of black life was often unrecognized or even condemned in its time, but his efforts to create a richer and more vibrant representation of the African American experience would echo in the works of later generations of playwrights.
The Role of Music
Hughes was influenced by the sounds of jazz, blues and gospel music from a young age and later worked with many of the major performers of the Harlem Renaissance to write and produce plays, albums and songs. He was an accomplished pianist and often wrote lyrics that reflected the vibrant musical culture of Harlem. He fused theater, music, and poetry to create an often-unprecedented form of artistic expression. His works may have also served as a record or celebration of the lost culture of African American music and art, a memory that was often passed on orally rather than through printed works.
Final Thoughts
Langston Hughes wrote more than 40 plays in his lifetime, exploring issues such as racism, poverty, and sexism. His works were often controversial and heavily criticized, but they were also a source of great inspiration and influence. He was a pioneer in American literature and his works continue to speak to audiences around the world. His plays and writings explore the lived realities of African American life, and by providing a nuanced view of the black experience, he helped to cultivate a space for increased visibility, representation and progress in the arts.
