Langston Hughes Legacy Essay

Improved Essays
Have you ever wanted to be remembered as having a legacy so great there was an award named after you in your honor? This is the type of influence Langston Hughes and his writings had on people. In 1925 Hughes rose to fame with his most well-known and famous poem “The Negro Speaks of Rivers”, which he wrote when he was just a teen. In addition to that, Hughes had much success in his career as a poet.
Hughes was born on February 1, 1902 in Joplin, Missouri. Hughes had a rough life growing up with his parents separating after his birth. Since his mom was constantly on the move, Hughes went to with live his grandmother. He didn’t let a little negatively in his life stop him from being one of the most famous poets of all time.
He was really interested in poetry when he was a teen and with Hughes life falling around him he turned to poetry which was a motivation for him
…show more content…
In November 1924, while Hughes was working at a hotel restaurant he ran into American poet Vachel Lindsay who was impressed with his work and promoted his writings launching his career. There soon in 1925 Hughes poem “The Weary Blues” won first prize in the Opportunity magazine literary competitions. With Hugh’s gaining fame on his poem, it became a scholarship opportunity to attend Lincoln University. Furthermore, while attending Lincoln University with success at every corner, it seemed that Hugh’s was on his way to become one of the most significant poets in American history. Coincidentally, while studying at Lincoln University his works caught the eye of novelist and critic Carl Van Vechten. Who used his connections to get Hugh’s more popular and helps produce Hugh’s first book of poetry “The Weary Blues” which was published in 1926. After graduating Lincoln College in 1929 his first novel “Not Without Laughter” was published which boosted the career and the self-esteem of Hugh’s. This success led Hugh’s to believe he could make a living as a

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    According to the book “Langston Hughes was a prolific, original, and versatile writer. He became a leading voice of the African American experience in America.” American poet Vachel Lindsay was impressed with Hughes’s work, so impressed that she promoted his poetry and that led to him winning first prize in the opportunity magazine literary competition, it also led to him receiving a scholarship to attend the Lincoln University. He accepted the scholarship and while he was studying at the university his poetry was recognized by a novelist/critic Carl Van Vechten. Carl helped Hughes get his first book published which was “The Weary Blues”.…

    • 689 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Change in Views Overtime Langston Hughes had a rather difficult life in post-war United States, as with the United States being a rather racist society, excluding and handicapping all races besides white. Hughes, being partially African American, White American, and Native American, Hughes experienced the worst of the worlds firsthand. He was under the stereotypes all the time, it be African American stereotypes, or Native American stereotypes. As a result of this racism he endured, Hughes poems was directed towards American society and towards the ruined dreams of people that were suppressed by the racism.…

    • 355 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Langston graduated high school and moved to Mexico with his father the following year. One of Langston’s most well known poems was published at this time “Negro Speaks of Rivers” in The Crisis magazine a magazine founded by W.E.B Dubois of the NAACP a very prominent leader at the time. A year…

    • 349 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    After the world war one and somewhere between the 1930`s, a great cultural event happened in America. The jazz era also known as the Harlem Renaissance had a lot of people flocking to Harlem, New York. According to Richard Wormser from PBS, he states Harlem was considered the mecca to which black writers, artist, musicians, photographers, poets, and scholars traveled. Many came to express their talents freely, and escape oppression in the south and the caste system. It was during this time that many talented artists such as Langston Hughes and Claude McKay started being recognized for their achieved works.…

    • 770 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Hughes implemented experiences in his poems of the racial segregation African Americans endured during that…

    • 1058 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Langston Hughes is a well-known African American Poet. Hughes had many literary talents he wrote short stories, novel, screenplays, plays, autobiographer, and children’s books. Hughes also had a very powerful voice which encourages many people to follow him. Langston devoted a lot of his literatures to the economics, politicians, and social issues that were going in the world. He was also a very important figure in the Harlem Renaissance.…

    • 1347 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Although Hughes had trouble with both black and white critics, he was the first black American to earn his living solely from his writing and public lectures. Part of the reason he was able to do this was the phenomenal acceptance and love he received from average black people” (Poetry 1). This speaks volumes because even though Hughes was knocked down and struggled throughout his life and career he still managed to bring attention to key issues and African Americans were thankful for that. He started out in the Harlem Renaissance speaking out and gaining attention to the inequalities and then shifted to a Marxist approach and spoke out about capitalism, but in each areas he was…

    • 1261 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    On the day of Hughes’ graduation from high school he got a train across the Mississippi. On this journey he reflected upon the significance of the Mississippi river and how it created a bond between him and his African ancestors. The result of this was a poem called “The Negro Speaks of Rivers”. It conveys how Langston Hughes felt that rivers spiritually connected him to his ancestors that sailed the Nile, Euphrates and the Mississippi. There is a significant racial influence on Langston Hughes’ work.…

    • 733 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    There have been numerous poets that have graced the Earth with their talents, providing humans with some of the simplest words; however, those simple words could have a deeper meaning than that of the ocean. One of these poets, Langston B. Hughes, was born in Joplin, Missouri. As an African-American, he faced many hardships in furthering his learning. While studying in New York during the Harlem Renaissance, he was inspired to write poetry. He had many works of poetry, “Theme for English B” being a product of the Harlem Renaissance.…

    • 743 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Langston Hughes Landlord

    • 534 Words
    • 3 Pages

    James Mercer Langston Hughes, the great poet, novelist, social activist, columnist, and playwright himself was born on February 1, 1902, in Joplin, Missouri. During his life he wrote numerous plays and many different works of poetry. He published his first book of poetry in 1926 at the age of 24. The book was called The Weary Blues, it was a standout because Hughes established a theme to recognize black heritage and he also used jazz rhythm and dialect to focus on urban black lives. Hughes is best known as being a leader of the Harlem Renaissance.…

    • 534 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    One of the most prolific poet of this era, Langston Hughes, wrote about the segregation and degradation of the black people. Through his poetry, he became a voice of black pride. Much of Hughes poetry included the stark contrast between the white…

    • 1316 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Langston Hughes, an African-American poet from the early 20th century, was one of the most influential participants in the Harlem Renaissance. His style of writing…

    • 1652 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Although he does not express anger, as many think he should, he does express other emotions. If one were to decipher each of the stanzas, one could establish what Hughes was feeling as he wrote this piece and…

    • 808 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Born on February 1, 1902, Hughes wrote of his own experiences with racism and white supremacy. In his essay, “The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain”. Hughes asserts that most of his poems are racial in themes and treatment derived from the life he knew (375). Hughes, who has written a host of short stories, musicals, autobiographies, plays, novels, operas, and poems, has also utilized religious verse to highlight the contradictions of white Americans. In his works, Hughes often told the stories of the African American in comparison to…

    • 1756 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    People can still see optimistic points in his writing because people believe that America can become “a strong land of love” (7). In the first poem, even though Hughes needs to eat in the kitchen when guest come, he writes “When company comes, But I laugh, / And eat well, / And grow Strong” (5-7). He is optimistic about the future and thinks that one day he will be able to sit around the table proudly when guests come. Instead of only thinking about his own group, Hughes speaks for many who are not included in American society. In the second poem, Hughes writes, “I am the poor white, fooled and pushed apart, / I am the Negro bearing slavery’s scares.”…

    • 1042 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays