Centerstage - Chicago's Original City Guide

Langston Hughes, the central figure of the Harlem Renaissance, also had a Chicago connection: he served as poet-in-residence at the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools in 1949. Living in the south side neighborhood of Hyde Park gave Hughes an opportunity to observe the lifestyle of the blacks who had been migrating to Chicago and changing the face of the south side.

Ordinary blacks like the Chicago migrants were Hughes's favorite subjects. His popular recurring character, Jesse B. Semple (nicknamed "Simple) exemplified the typical poor, black Harlem resident trying to make a place for himself in a racist society. Hughes's interest in portraying the lives of average people angered black leaders, who believed that black writers should "put their best foot forward" and emphasize the best qualities of blacks so that white readers would get a favorable impression. Later in his life, Hughes was also criticized for not being militant enough in the struggle against racism; his desire to combat racism was always tempered with an optimistic faith in the goodness of humanity.

Hughes himself came from no ordinary background. While he was a child in Joplin, Missouri, his father left his mother and emigrated to Mexico because he felt alienated from American blacks. Hughes was an excellent student, earning admission to Columbia University and Lincoln University. After sailing to Africa and Europe as a young man, Hughes returned to the United States to write about people whose opportunities were far more limited than his own.

Hughes explored every form of writing available, making his reputation as a poet in the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s and later publishing novels, short stories, and nonfiction. In the 1950s, he wrote several children's books about black historical figures and entertainers, intended to provide black children with role models and encourage appreciation of black culture.

Works:

• The Weary Blues, 1926
• Fine Clothes to the Jew, 1927
• Not Without Laughter, 1930
• The Negro Mother and Other Dramatic Recitations, 1931
• Dear Lovely Death, 1931
• The Dream Keeper and Other Poems, 1932
• Popo and Fifina: Children of Haiti, 1932
• Scottsboro Limited: Four Poems and a Play, 1932
• The Ways of White Folks, 1934
• A Negro Looks at Soviet Central Asia, 1934
• A New Song, 1938
• Shakespeare in Harlem, 1942
• Jim Crow's Last Stand, 1943
• Freedom's Plow, 1943
• Lament for Dark Peoples and Other Poems, 1944
• Fields of Wonder, 1947
• One-Way Ticket, 1949
• Simple Speaks His Mind, 1950
• Montage of a Dream Deferred, 1951
• The First Book of Negroes, 1952
• Laughing to Keep from Crying, 1952
• Simple Takes a Wife, 1953
• The First Book of Rhythms, 1954
• Famous American Negroes, 1954
• Famous Negro Music-Makers, 1955
• The First Book of Jazz, 1955
• The Sweet Flypaper of Life, (co-written with Roy De Carava) 1955
• A Pictorial History of the Negro in America, (co-written with Milton Meltzer) 1956
• I Wonder as I Wander: An Autobiographical Journey, 1956
• The First Book of the West Indies, 1956
• Simple Stakes a Claim, 1957
• Tambourines to Glory, 1958
• Famous Negro Heroes of America, 1958
• The First Book of Africa, 1960
• Ask Your Mama: 12 Moods for Jazz, 1961
• Fight for Freedom: The Story of the NAACP, 1962
• Something in Common and Other Stories, 1963
• Simple's Uncle Sam, 1965
• The Panther and the Lash: Poems of Our Times, 1967
• Black Magic: A Pictorial History of the Negro in American Entertainment, (co-written with Milton Meltzer) 1967
• Black Misery, 1969
• Collected Poems, 1995
• The Big Sea : An Autobiography, 1993
• Langston Hughes and the Chicago Defender : Essays on Race, Politics, and Culture, 1942-62, 1995

Got a correction? Click Here

Pages linking to this one include: