THE LIFE AND CAREER OF LANGSTON HUGHES.

dereksmusicblog ♦ January 23, 2025 ♦ Leave a comment

The Life and Career Of Langston Hughes.

Multitalented is the word that describes James Mercer Langston Hughes. He was a novelist, newspaper columnist, poet, playwright, social activist and songwriter. Hughes is also credited as being one of the founding fathers of jazz poetry. It’s almost an understatement to say he was a remarkable man.

Hughes was born on February 1st, 1901, in Joplin, Missouri, but grew up in various Midwestern towns. However, when Hughes moved to New York as a young man, his career flourished.

Having graduated from high school in Cleveland, Ohio, Hughes enrolled at Columbia University, in New York City. However, he dropped out. By then, publishers were taking notice of his work.

From an early age, Hughes was already a prolific writer. After dropping out of Columbia University, Hughes’ was published in The Crisis magazine. Then in 1926, his first collection of poetry, ‘The Weary Blues,’ was published. He was only twenty-five. This was a huge achievement.

However, dropping out of his course at Columbia University must have been a disappointment for Hughes. So he enrolled at Lincoln University, in Pennsylvania, and eventually graduated.

As his career progressed, Hughes wrote further collections of poetry. He published ‘The Negro Mother and Other Dramatic Recitations’ and ‘Dear Lovely Death’ in 1931; ‘The Dream Keeper and Other Poems’ in 1932; ‘A New Song’ in 1937 and ‘Madrid 1937’ in 1938. It was about black Americans volunteering in the Spanish Civil War. Much of Hughes poetry, and many of his novels were portrayals of the lives of working class black people in America.

During the early part of his career, Hughes’ debut novel ‘Not Without Laughter’ was published in 1930. He also wrote collections of short stories. This included ‘The Ways Of White Folks,’ a collection of short stories published in 1934.

Hughes wrote some of his most important plays during the thirties, including ‘Mule Bone’ in 1931 and ‘Mulatto’ in 1935. Then in 1936, ‘Troubled Island,’ the opera he cowrote with William Grant Still made its debut.

Meanwhile, Hughes had cowritten his first children’s book ‘Popo and Fifina,’ with Arna Bontemps. Just like poetry, short stories, novels, plays and later, non-fiction, he would become a prolific writer of children’s books.

By the end of the thirties, Hughes had achieved a lot in a relatively short period of time. As well as his writing, he had cofounded the New York Suitcase Theater in 1931, and the same year, he and Prentiss Taylor had setup the Golden Stair Press. The thirties were one of the most productive of Hughes’ career.

In Chicago, in 1941, Hughes founded The Skyloft Players. He wanted to encourage and promote black playwrights and put on plays “from the black perspective.” Not long after founding the Players, Hughes was commissioned to write a column for the Chicago Defender. His new column featured some of his most important, influential and pertinent work. Especially between 1942 and 1962, when the civil rights movement gained traction and became a potent force in the search for equality. Hughes wasn’t just a writer he was a social activist.

He had also been one of the founding fathers of jazz poetry in the twenties. It was perceived as an outsider art form,  which existed outside of the mainstream. Thirty years after its conception, the counterculture poets of the fifties, who were part of the Beat generation, turned their attention to jazz poetry. It was back in vogue, and later, would influence hip hop, especially poetry slams. Hughes continued to influence music even after his death.

However, in 1951, Hughes published ‘Montage of a Dream Deferred,’ a book-length poem suite, in the jazz poetry style. It portrays the lives of African-Americans living in Harlem during a twenty-four hour period. Nowadays, the book is regarded as one of the most important of Hughes’ career.

Two years later, Hughes was called to appear in front of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, which was led by Senator Joseph McCarthy. Hughes was one of many actors, writers and poets who had to appear before the Subcommittee. He had previously been accused by many right wing politicians of being a Communist, but explained that he had never joined the Communist Party as: “It was based on strict discipline and the acceptance of directives that I, as a writer, did not wish to accept.” Following his appearance in front of the Subcommittee, Hughes decoded to distance himself from Communism and focused more on lyrical subjects.

Throughout the remainder of the fifties, Hughes continued to write collections of poetry and short stories as well as novels, non-fiction, children’s books and plays. He was a a prolific writer who was also a songwriter. 

During the fifties, Hughes released five albums. They were ‘The Story Of Jazz – The First Album Of Jazz,’ The Dream Keeper and Other Poems Of Langston Hughes,’ ‘The Glory Of Negro History,’ ‘Rhythms Of The World’ and ‘The Weary Blues With Langston Hughes.’ These albums introduced Hughes, his poetry and music to a wider audience.

Hughes was also a songwriter, and with Samuel Heyward cowrote a number of songs. This included ‘Yesterday And Today,’ ‘Tired As I Can Be (So Tired Blues),’ Lament,’ ‘Mojo Blues,’ ‘Got To Live Blues’ and ‘Heartache Blues.’ It seemed that Hughes had been using his own experiences and what he had observed over the years to write these songs. He also cowrote ‘Made To Order Gal’ with Juanita R. Smith. Just like everything he did, Hughes turned out to be a talented songwriter.

Between 1950 and 1965 Hughes published his Simples’ series of books. The final book in the series turned out to be ‘Simple’s Uncle Sam,’ which was published in 1965. Sadly, two years later, Hughes passed away on May 22nd, 1967, in the Stuyvesant Polyclinic, in New York City, aged just sixty-six. 

Langston Hughes was a prolific and award winning novelist, poet and playwright. He also founded a theatre company and a publishing company. Hughes was a social activist, and for twenty years, used his newspaper columns to champion and further the civil rights movement. He had a burning desire to rid America of the injustice and inequality, and played his part in bringing about change. 

Throughout his life, Hughes was also an innovator. He was one of the pioneers of the jazz poetry movement. Music was part of his life, and for a one of the greatest wordsmiths of his generation, it’s no surprise that Hughes was also a songwriter. These songs, like his poetry, plays, novels and short stories are part of the legacy Langston Hughes’ left behind, and is still relevant today. 

The Life and Career Of Langston Hughes.