Happy Birthday, Langston Hughes

Langston Hughes at work

In a fitting start to Black History Month, 2 of America's leading black female poets came together at the Library of Congress today to read some of their favorite Langston Hughes poems and discuss the influence that Hughes, who would have turned 110, has had on their own poetry.

Current Washington DC poet laureate Dolores Kendrick was joined by Rutgers University Professor Evie Shockley at the literary birthday celebration honoring Hughes, a leading figure of the Harlem Renaissance and one of this country's truly great writers..

As would be expected, many of the readings came from those considered some of Hughes' greatest works such as:

• "Harlem" which contains the line that sparked the Lorraine Hansberry play A Raisin in the Sun
• "The Negro Speaks of Rivers"
• "Let America Be America Again"
• "Theme for English B"

But both poets also chose lesser known works that had an impact on them and their work. For her part, Kendrick read Hughes' "Merry-Go-Round ... Colored Child at a Carnival" which states:
Where is the Jim Crow section 
On this merry-go-round, 
Mister, cause I want to ride?
Down South where I come from
White and colored
Can't sit side by side.
Down South on the train
There's a Jim Crow car.
On the bus we're put in the back - 
But there ain't no back
To a merry-go-round!
Where's the horse
For a kid that's black?

Shockley selected an early 1920s short poem entitled "Johannesburg Mines" which states:
In the Johannesburg mines
There are 240,000
Native Africans working.
What kind of poem
Would you
Make of that?
240.000 natives
Working in the
Johannesburg mines.

Shockley, who says of Hughes that she has "taken him in certain ways as a a model for my poetry,"
explained that "Johannesburg Mines" prompted her to write her poem "Statistical Haiku - How Do They Discount Us? Let Me Count the Ways," which in simple, Hughes-like language powerfully lists figures that dramatically capture the still existent inequalities between white and black Americans.

While Hughes' themes are deep and profound, some people might tend to dismiss him because of his language choices, an action that Shockley says is a mistake. "He used everyday words so it is sometimes easy for the casual reader to dismiss him," Shockley said. "But he foreshadows the Black rebellion and speaks of the importance of the American Dream for all people."

Tales, Tidbits, and Tips
Langston Hughes is my favorite poet. I think everyone should be familiar with his work. You can check out 92 of his poems here at Poem Hunter.com.