Megan Layley

Born on 1st February 1901, in Joplin Missouri, Hughes had mixed ancestry, he was a descendant of black slaves and of white slave owners in Kentucky. Langston after school attended Columbia and Lincoln University and spent a lot of his early adulthood travelling. As Hughes’ poetry suggests, he identified with his African ancestry more than his white, and was still on the receiving end of degrading racism. Therefore it’s not a surprise most of his poetry was written as an account of the oppression of the African American Community in the United States from the great depression period until his death in 1966. Langston Hughes was part of the Harlem Renaissance; a group of African American influencer’s residing in Harlem, New York. Langston Hughes was also a key figure in jazz poetry.  

Reasons to read:

1. Education. As a white British woman born in the 1990’s, I doubt even with all the research in the world, I would ever be able to fully grasp the struggles he writes about. However, if everyone with this view decided to not even try then how is our society ever going to change to be totally equal? 
2.  Even some of the poems that were written on racial discrimination, could be read, interpreted and applied to other struggles. For example one of my favourite’s is “Still Here”. Even if you read the poem without any knowledge of the original meaning, reflect on your own life and you’ll find this will have applied to you at some point . A poem to inspire all to stand up and say “I’m not done yet.”

Reasons to not read: 

1. The disgusting racism that Hughes describes, will question your faith in humanity. So be prepared for its raw honesty. 
2. If you don’t like the use of colloquial language in poetry. There is plenty of it, he wants the reader to have a full on experience of how he talks, walks and feels, language is part of that. 

So in short, I’d really recommend reading Langston Hughes. Even if you don’t want to buy a book of his selected work, there is plenty of his stuff out there on the internet, plus check out your local library. 

References:

https://nmaahc.si.edu/langston-hughes

https://poets.org/poet/langston-hughes

( Feature Image was taken and is owned by me)

Megan Layley ©