Langston Hughes

Paper Summary:

This paper takes a look at the history of Langston Hughes and his literary works. Hughes has been said to have written in a
voice that was definitively African-American and defiantly pro-Black. Yet he spoke to all people--about about freedom, about dignity, about Black mothers and fathers, about Black American life and loves and dreams.

From the Paper:

"As time when by, Hughes approach to the problem of race mellowed; his beliefs did not. He simply found a more palatable way to express them. IN the preface to "Simple States a Claim," written in 1957, Hughes noted that while the race problem in the U.S. was "serious business, "humor is a weapon, too, of no mean value against one's foes". By 1961, Hughes had even accepted the possibility that traditional Black music could be used at the same time for entertainment and education. That year, theatrical producer Gary Kramer asked Hughes to write a script based on a collection of Christmas tunes recorded by the gospel group, Stars of Faith. The result, "Black Nativity," opened off-Broadway in 1961 and "played to packed houses--first in American and then throughout Europe--for the next four years."

More papers on Langston Hughes:

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