Langston Hughes: The Epic Saga

Brought to you by:– Bennett Stein– Ryan Perkins

And generous donations from:– Phranque International– Land-Fish Law & Associates– The Squimm Group

So Who Was Langston Hughes?

Some guy born at the age of four on February 1st, a year before the death of George Gabriel Stokes.

His real name was James Mercer Langston Hughes, but don’t tell the feds.

Born in Joplin Missouri, where

he didn’t spend most of his time Spent most of his time in

Lawrence, Kansas

A map of Missouri that you cannot read

Who Were His Parents?

James Nathaniel Hughes (father) Carrie Langston Hughes (mother, often

referred to as “the other Langston Hughes” James abandoned his family and went to

Mexico and Cuba because he didn’t like racism in the United States.

Cuba

How Many More Days of School Do We Have?

Langston started to live with his grandmother in Lawrence.

She inspired him and his later poetry through the telling of traditional stories.

This instilled a sense of racial pride in young Langston

The turbulence of his youth also inspired much of his poetry.

Not Langston Hughes. We actually have no idea who he is. But he is happy.

What Kind of Education Did He Have?

More than you. And probably more than Mr. Ashley Attended grammar school in Lincoln, Illinois, while living with

his mother.– Labeled as poet of his class

Began true writing in Cleveland, Ohio, during High School– Edited school paper– Wrote plays– Also wrote poems (surprisingly)

Attended some college at Columbia University

– Became acquainted with Harlem Graduated from Lincoln University

Logo of Columbia (pixilated)

What Else did He Do?

Traveled To:– Europe– Russia– Africa– The Caribbean

This influenced his diverse

writings and led him to join

and inspire several movements and organizations:– The Communist Party– The Harlem Renaissance– The Civil Rights Movement

But Then What Happened?

A: He died Q: Of What?

A: Prostate Cancer

Q: Eww

A: That’s right

Q: When?

A: Look it up.. Something like 1967

“The Negro Speaks of Rivers”

By Langston Hughes

Background

• Written in 1920• On a locomotive journey

from Illinois to Mexico• Written on back of an

envelope• First published a year

later in The Crisis magazine

• Dedicated to W.E.B. DuBois

General Meaning

• Depicts journey of mankind and struggle of black people in the United States

I’ve known rivers ancient as the world and older than the/flow of human

blood in human veins

• Shows connection to first people of the world

• Feels pride in this

“My soul has grown deep like the rivers”

• First of two times this line appears

• Only acknowledges deep ancestral link this time

“I bathed in the Euphrates when dawns were young”

• Euphrates river- where first civilization began

• His ancestors impacted how civilization is today

“I looked upon the Nile and raised the pyramids above it”

• Beginning of black enslavement

• By the Pharaohs of Egypt

• His people show a divine strength in seeing and creating

“I heard the singing of the Mississippi when Abe Lincoln went down to New Orleans, and I've seen its muddy bosom

turn all golden in the sunset.” • Slaves freed

thousands of years later in the US

• Emancipation Proclamation

• Nations imperfect history improves

“My soul has grown deep like the rivers,”

• Second and final time used

• This time implies that all the experiences of his people are a part of him

Use of river

• Connects people’s lives of past and present

• Connects time periods and places

• Completes full story

Poetic Techniques

• Structure- flows and looks like a river

• Connation of “I” throughout poem is black men and women as a people

Psst.. Want a Bibliography?

• Gates, Henry and McKay, Nellie. "Langston Hughes (1902-1967)." African American Literature. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1997.

• Hughes, Langston. “The Big Sea: An Autobiography”. New York: Hill and Wang, 1940

• Hughes, Langston. "Selected Poems of Langston Hughes." Selected Poems of Langston Hughes. New York: Vintage Classics, 1959.

• Rampersad, Arnold. “The Life Of Langston Hughes”. New York: Oxford University Press, 1986.

• Rollins, Charlemae H.. “Black Troubadour: Langston Hughes”. Chicago: Rand McNally, 1970.