Where Did Langston Hughes Grew Up

Early Life of Langston Hughes

Langston Hughes was born in Joplin, Missouri and grew up in Lawrence, Kansas. He was the son of an African-American college-educated lawyer and school superintendent, James Hughes, and Italian-American preschool teacher, Carrie Langston. He was the great-great grandson of Charles Henry Langston, the brother of John Mercer Langston, a prominent African-American leader and civil rights advocate.
Hughes was raised in Lawrence, Kansas, where in his early years was exposed to a wide variety of cultural influences including music, art, and literature. Growing up in a small town, he was able to observe a wide range of different cultures in the area, and this greatly impacted his writing style.

Formative Years of Langston Hughes

In 1904, Hughes’ father left the family and moved to Mexico leaving his mother to take care of the family. In 1906, Hughes’ mother moved to Illinois leaving the young Hughes to be raised by his maternal grandmother, Mary Langston. Later on, Hughes was sent to Lincoln, IL to live with his mother and stepfather, after his parents were reunited.
In 1907, Hughes and his mother returned to Kansas and Hughes attended Central High School in Kansas City. In 1919, Hughes went to Columbia University in New York City to study engineering, but soon abandoned engineering to pursue writing. It was at Columbia that he wrote some of his most iconic poems, including “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” which was published in The Crisis magazine in 1921.

The Significance of Langston Hughes

In his formative years and adulthood, Langston Hughes established himself as a great African American poet and social critic. He wrote extensively of the African American experience, taking an attention to both the racism and the vitality of the culture. His work celebrated African American culture, portrayed the hardships of urban working-class life, and shed insight into the African American experience in a manner that was rarely seen at the time. His writings also intended to dispel the stereotypes of African Americans in popular culture.
He was also a significant figure of the Harlem Renaissance, which was a period of flourishing culture and creativity in African American art, literature and music. Many of Hughes’ works were inspired by the period, and his poetry, short stories, plays, and essays had a lasting influence on modern art and literature.

The Legacy of Langston Hughes

Langston Hughes is remembered for his contributions to the American Literary canon and the African American Experience. In addition to his literature, Hughes’ legacy lives on in the form of schools and institutions named in his honor throughout the United States and around the world. In the United States, there are institutions such as the Langston Hughes Center for African American Studies at Brown University, the Langston Hughes Library at the University of Kansas, and the Langston Hughes High School on Long Island. Internationally, there is the Langston Hughes Library in Paris and the Langston Hughes Institute in Singapore. Hughes’ words and impact on American culture will be remembered for generations to come.

Influence of Langston Hughes

Langston Hughes’s work is a lasting legacy of African-American culture and experience. His poems, short stories and plays have inspired many prominent writers and social critics. Among them is Maya Angelou, who said that “Langston Hughes opened my eyes to the nature and necessity of racial pride.” Hughes’s influence extends far beyond the African American world, as his work was embraced by Armenians, Koreans and other peoples when translated into their languages. His message of social justice, equality and respect inspired others around the world.

Impact of Langston Hughes

Langston Hughes was the voice of the marginalized African American community in the United States. His work was a direct reflection of the African American experience and he used his writing to celebrate and champion minorities in literature and art. He was a major figure in the Harlem Renaissance, and his influence on the art and literature has been noted in the many institutions and honoring his legacy. Hughes’s influence on American and global culture cannot be overstated and his legacy is remembered to this day.

Style of Langston Hughes

The style of Langston Hughes’s work was strongly associated with jazz and blues, and his experimental form of writing has a unique rhythmic quality. His work was often abstract and featured a dream-like quality and surreal imagery. Hughes’s use of symbolism and allusion has been cited as a major influence on later writers. He was also heavily influenced by the folktales of his grandmother, which shaped his writing and his views on themes like race, art and oppression.

Prose of Langston Hughes

In addition to his poetry, Hughes was known for his short stories, essays and plays. His most famous play is Mule Bone, which was written in collaboration with Zora Neale Hurston. His other plays include The Mulatto, Mulatto and The Simple Stories. His short stories are mainly focused on the African-American experience, but he also wrote on topics such as love and death. His most famous piece of prose is The Big Sea, a memoir detailing his journeys and his experience with the Harlem Renaissance.

Publications of Langston Hughes

Langston Hughes wrote extensively throughout his life, and his work was published in various anthologies and magazines. He was the author of 25 books, including 6 volumes of poetry. He also wrote 5 novels, 3 collections of short stories, and 3 autobiographies. Hughes’s work was often published in magazines such as The Crisis, Opportunity, and Liberator. He was also the first African American to publish a book with a major publisher, Alfred A. Knopf, with The Weary Blues in 1926.

Dannah Hannah is an established poet and author who loves to write about the beauty and power of poetry. She has published several collections of her own works, as well as articles and reviews on poets she admires. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in English, with a specialization in poetics, from the University of Toronto. Hannah was also a panelist for the 2017 Futurepoem book Poetry + Social Justice, which aimed to bring attention to activism through poetry. She lives in Toronto, Canada, where she continues to write and explore the depths of poetry and its influence on our lives.

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