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Explore the performances of young slam poets. Musical, lyrical, and provocative, these original spoken word pieces are supported by Hip Hop giants Questlove and Black Thought.
Langston Hughes Poet, Novelist, Playwright, Essayist
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Born
February 1, 1901
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Died
May 22, 1967
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Country
United States of America
Lauded as the “Poet Laureate of Harlem” in the 1920s, Langston Hughes was one of the first African American artists to earn a living solely as a writer. Hughes was known mainly for his poetry, but he also wrote plays, novels, a wealth of nonfiction pieces, and even an opera.
In his explorations of race, social justice, and African American culture and art, Hughes’ writing vividly captures the political, social, and artistic climates of Harlem in the 1920s and 1930s.
Listen: “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” by Langston Hughes
After a transitory adolescence, Hughes moved to Harlem in 1926 where he worked with and befriended such artists, writers, and scholars as Aaron Douglas, Countee Cullen, and Alain Locke. Infused and inspired by the jazz and blues that surrounded him at hot spots such as the Savoy Ballroom, Hughes weaved the rhythms of contemporary music into his poems. Often his writing riffed on the energy of life in Harlem itself.
In his path-breaking poem “The Weary Blues,” singled out for a literary award by Opportunity magazine in 1924, Langston Hughes combined Black vernacular speech with blues rhythms, breaking from traditional literary forms. The recognition encouraged Hughes to publish his first collection of poetry, likewise entitled The Weary Blues.
 I n t e r s e c t i o n s |
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He traveled throughout the South with Zora Neale Hurston. |
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He met—and became friends with—fellow writer Countee Cullen at a poetry reading. |
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He wrote an opera with composer James P. Johnson. |
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He praised Bessie Smith in his essay “The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain.” |
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Patron Charlotte Mason supported him financially and emotionally. |
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鈥淭he Weary Blues鈥 by Langston Hughes
Droning a drowsy syncopated tune,
Rocking back and forth to a mellow croon,
I heard a Negro play.
Down on Lenox Avenue the other night
By the pale dull pallor of an old gas light
He did a lazy sway . . .
He did a lazy sway . . .
To the tune o’ those Weary Blues.
With his ebony hands on each ivory key
He made that poor piano moan with melody.
O Blues!
Swaying to and fro on his rickety stool
He played that sad raggy tune like a musical fool.
Sweet Blues!
Coming from a black man’s soul.
O Blues!
In a deep song voice with a melancholy tone
I heard that Negro sing, that old piano moan—
“Ain’t got nobody in all this world,
Ain’t got nobody but ma self.
I’s gwine to quit ma frownin’
And put ma troubles on the shelf.”
Thump, thump, thump, went his foot on the floor.
He played a few chords then he sang some more—
“I got the Weary Blues
And I can’t be satisfied.
Got the Weary Blues
And can’t be satisfied—
I ain’t happy no mo’
And I wish that I had died.”
And far into the night he crooned that tune.
The stars went out and so did the moon.
The singer stopped playing and went to bed
While the Weary Blues echoed through his head.
He slept like a rock or a man that’s dead.
Reprinted with the permission of the Harold Ober Associates, Inc., on behalf of the Estate of Langston Hughes.
鈥淔orward to Fire!!鈥 by Wallace Thurman and Langston Hughes
FIRE … flaming, burning, searing, and penetrating
far beneath the superficial items of
the flesh to boil the sluggish blood. …
FIRE … weaving vivid, hot designs upon an ebon
bordered loom and satisfying pagan
thirst for beauty unadorned… and
flesh is sweet and real… the soul
an inward flush of fire…
… on fire–on fire in the
furnace of life blazing. …
“Fy-ah,
Fy-ah, Lawd,
Fy-ah gonna burn ma soul!”
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