Langston Hughes, a prominent figure in the Harlem Renaissance and the first African American to make a career as a writer, was frequently referred to as the “Poet Laureate of Harlem” or the “Poet Laureate of the Negro Race.” Even with those titles of regality, though, he was most respected for a manner that seemed to give voice to the anonymous regular people he met throughout the years. Following his death fifty years ago, his name continues to be well recognized in American society. Here are seven fascinating facts about this trailblazing and significant historian of African American history.
His earliest inspiration came from his grandmother
Hughes was inspired by his grandmother at an early age, as his mother and father were away from home for extended periods of time. Mary Langston, the widow of one of John Brown’s abolitionist allies and the first Black woman to enroll at Ohio’s Oberlin College, shared her storytelling talent by sharing tales of family history, bravery, and slavery. Young Hughes also observed that she made money by renting out her own apartment, and that she used her limited resources to make sure he was fed and clothed appropriately. “Aunt Sue’s Stories,” one of his first poems to be published, is thought to be an ode to the proud woman who influenced his formative years.
“The Negro Speaks of Rivers” was his ticket to college
Hughes was struck with inspiration to pen what would become his most famous poem while traveling by rail to Mexico to see his father, who was able to cover his education expenses. In the dramatic light bouncing off the muddy banks of the Mississippi River as the train approached St. Louis at twilight, Hughes scrawled out the succinct yet impactful “The Negro Speaks of Rivers.”
At first, his father was disdainful of the notion that a Black man could go to college and become a writer. However, after reading the poem, which was later reprinted in Literary Digest and Crisis magazine, W.E.B. Dubois became persuaded that his son had a gift that should be explored.
He was first asked to write his memoir at age 23
Though he was urged to write it even earlier, Hughes didn’t publish his first book, The Big Sea, until he was just 38 years old. When he turned in an autobiographical essay to his master Carl Van Vechten at the age of 23, “L’histoire de ma vie,” it was all set for the publication of his first critically lauded anthology of poems, The Weary Blues. This essay would serve as the book’s preface. The article amazed Van Vechten and Blanche Knopf, the publisher, who urged the writer to expand it into a full-length book.
Hughes wasn’t prepared for the task, though. He said, “I detest thinking backwards.” “It’s not funny… I still have too much of the effects of my early life ingrained in me to write about in detail.
He traveled the world
Hughes lived in the Harlem district of New York City for many years and is strongly associated with the Harlem Renaissance, yet his life was characterized by almost continual travel. Before moving to Mexico to live with his father, he was raised in Ohio, Illinois, Kansas, and Missouri. He traveled to Africa and Holland as a deckhand in his early 20s, and from there, he went on trips to France and Italy.
In 1932, Hughes made trips to Haiti and Cuba. Later, as part of a disastrous film production, he traveled to the Soviet Union and then circled around Central Asia and the Far East before returning home. Later on, Hughes worked as a correspondent for the Baltimore Afro-American throughout the Civil War, spending a considerable amount of time in Spain.
Jesse B. Semple was inspired by a bar patron
One night at Patsy’s Bar in Harlem in 1942, Hughes was amused by a conversation with another patron, who was complaining about his job making cranks at a war plant in New Jersey. Thus was born Hughes’ famed Jesse B. Semple, a.k.a. “Simple,” the African American everyman who mused on issues of race, politics, and relationships.
Simple first appeared in print on February 13, 1943, in Hughes’ column “From Here to Yonder” for the Chicago Defender, and became a column fixture for the next 23 years. He also was the subject of five books, as well as a play, Simply Heavenly, that made it to Broadway in 1957.
He was called to testify before the Senate about his support for Joseph McCarthy
Hughes wasn’t shy about his support for far-left radical politics during the 1930s, a record that eventually drew the attention of Senator Joseph McCarthy’s anti-Communist campaign. Called to testify before the Senate Permanent Sub-Committee on Investigations in 1953, Hughes prepared a five-page written statement and arranged a deal in which his most inflammatory poetry was not read aloud. He was still forced to account for these poems, including “One More ‘S’ in the U.S.A.” and to delicately explain how he was never an official member of the Communist Party.
Although Hughes deftly handled himself during the hearings and emerged in clear standing, he was rattled by the experience. When his Selected Poems was published in 1959, it was notably missing the politically charged works that had landed him in hot water.
He never stopped writing
Between 1920 and the time of his death in 1967, Hughes wrote an enormous amount of work. In addition to writing two autobiographies, he also wrote two novels, nine children’s books, three collections of short stories, and sixteen volumes of poetry. Along with writing several screenplays for radio, television, and film, he also translated the writings of authors like Federico García Lorca, Jacques Roumain, and Nicolás Guillén. He also created at least 20 plays. Not to mention the numerous letters he wrote to friends, admirers, and publishers on a daily basis—so many that the 2015 compilation Selected Letters of Langston Hughes contained nearly 500 pages of his correspondence alone.
