elisa_rolle (elisa_rolle) wrote,
elisa_rolle
elisa_rolle

Langston Hughes (February 1, 1902 – May 22, 1967)

James Mercer Langston Hughes was an American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist from Joplin, Missouri. He was one of the earliest innovators of the then-new literary art form called jazz poetry.
Born: February 1, 1902, Joplin, Missouri, United States
Died: May 22, 1967, New York City, New York, United States
Education: Lincoln University
Columbia University
Lived: Langston Hughes House, 12 E 127th St, New York, NY 10035, USA (40.80724, -73.94082)
Buried: under the floor, beneath an engraving of one of his famed poems within the Arthur Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem, New York.
Books: The Weary Blues, more
Awards: Quill Award for Poetry, Anisfield-Wolf Book Award, more

Langston Hughes House is a historic home located in Harlem, New York, New York.
Address: 12 E 127th St, New York, NY 10035, USA (40.80724, -73.94082)
Type: Private Property
National Register of Historic Places: 82001198, 1982
Place
Built in 1869
An Italianate style dwelling, three story with basement, rowhouse faced in brownstone and measuring 20 feet wide and 45 feet deep. Noted African American poet and author Langston Hughes (1902-1967) occupied the top floor as his workroom from 1947 to 1967.
Life
Who: James Mercer Langston Hughes (February 1, 1902 – May 22, 1967)
Langston Hughes was a poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist from Joplin, Missouri. He was one of the earliest innovators of the then-new literary art form called jazz poetry. Hughes is best known as a leader of the Harlem Renaissance. He famously wrote about the period that "the negro was in vogue,” which was later paraphrased as "when Harlem was in vogue.” Some academics and biographers today believe that Hughes was homosexual and included homosexual codes in many of his poems, similar in manner to Walt Whitman, whom Hughes cited as an influence on his poetry. Hughes’s story "Blessed Assurance" deals with a father’s anger over his son’s effeminacy and "queerness.” The biographer Aldrich argues that, in order to retain the respect and support of black churches and organizations and avoid exacerbating his precarious financial situation, Hughes remained closeted. On May 22, 1967, Langston Hughes died from complications of prostate cancer. A tribute to his poetry, his funeral contained little in the way of spoken eulogy, but was filled with jazz and blues music. Hughes's ashes were interred beneath the entrance of the Arthur Schomburg Center for Research in Black culture (515 Malcolm X Blvd, New York, NY 10037). The inscription marking the spot features a line from Hughes's poem "The Negro Speaks of Rivers." It reads: "My soul has grown deep like the rivers."



Queer Places, Vol. 1 edited by Elisa Rolle
ISBN-13: 978-1532901904
ISBN-10: 1532901909
Release Date: July 24, 2016
CreateSpace Store: https://www.createspace.com/6228297
Amazon (print): http://www.amazon.com/dp/1532901909/?tag=elimyrevandra-20
Amazon (kindle): http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01IZ1BU9K/?tag=elimyrevandra-20

This journal is friends only. This entry was originally posted at http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/4998414.html. If you are not friends on this journal, Please comment there using OpenID.
Tags: queer places
Subscribe

  • Harold Kooden (born September 4, 1936)

    Harold Kooden (born September 4, 1936) is a clinical psychologist in private practice, a graduate of the University of Chicago, and a Fellow of the…

  • Simon LeVay (born August 28, 1943)

    Simon LeVay (born 28 August 1943) is a British-American neuroscientist. He is renowned for his studies about brain structures and sexual…

  • Rick Copp (born August 8, 1964)

    Rick Copp was two years out of New York University's Tisch School of the Arts when he was tapped at 24 years old to become a staff writer on the…

  • Post a new comment

    Error

    Comments allowed for friends only

    Anonymous comments are disabled in this journal

    default userpic

    Your reply will be screened

    Your IP address will be recorded 

  • 0 comments