Langston Hughes Biography (1902-1967)

Full name, James Mercer Langston Hughes; born February 1, 1902, in Joplin, MO; died of congestive heart failure, May 22, 1967, in New York, NY; son of James Nathaniel (a lawyer, rancher, and businessman) and Carrie Mercer (a teacher; maiden name, Langston) Hughes. Career: Writer. Karamu Theatre, Cleveland, OH, playwright in residence, 1936 and 1939; Baltimore Afro-American, Baltimore, MD, correspondent in Madrid, Spain, 1937; Harlem Suitcase Theatre, Harlem, New York City, founder, 1938; New Negro Theatre, Los Angeles,CA, founder, 1939; Skyloft Players, Chicago, IL, founder, 1941; Chicago Defender, Chicago, IL, columnist, 1943-67; Atlanta University, Atlanta, GA,visiting professor of creative writing, 1947; University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, poet in residence at Laboratory School, 1949; New York Post, NewYork City, columnist, 1963-66. Associated with the "Harlem Renaissance" movement of African-American writers and artists in the 1920s. Also worked as a crewmember on ocean voyages to Africa and Europe. Awards, Honors: Firstprize in poetry, Opportunity magazine literary contest, 1925; poetryand essay prizes, Amy Spingarn Contest, Crisis magazine, 1925; first prize, Witter Bynner undergraduate poetry prize contests, 1926; Intercollegiate Poetry Award, Palms, 1927; Harmon Gold Medal for Literature, 1931; Guggenheim fellow, 1935; New Theatre League Award, 1936, for Angelo HerndonJones; Rosenwald fellow, 1941; Litt.D., Lincoln University, 1943; Academy-Institute Award for Literature, American Academy and Institute of Arts andLetters, 1946; grant from National Institute and American Academy of Arts andLetters, 1947; Anisfield-Wolf Book Award in Racial Relations, Cleveland Foundation, 1953, for Simple Takes a Wife; Spingarn Medal, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, 1960; Litt. D., Howard University, 1960, and Western Reserve (now Case Western Reserve) University, 1964.

Lorraine Hansberry's 1959 play A Raisin in the Sun takes its name froma line in Hughes's poem "A Dream Deferred." Hughes's poems have been translated into numerous languages including German, Russian, and Czech.

Nationality: American
Ethnicity: African American
Gender: Male
Occupation: Writer
Birth Details: February 1, 1902; Joplin, Missouri, United States
Death Details: May 22, 1967; New York, New York, United States

Famous Works

WRITINGS
Stage Plays
The Gold Piece (one-act play for children), Karamu Theatre, Cleveland, OH, 1920
(With Zora Neale Hurston) Mule Bone: A Comedy of Negro Life, written in 1930, first produced at Ethel Barrymore Theatre, New York City, 1991, published by Harper Collins, 1991
Cock o' de World (musical), 1931
Scottsboro Limited (verse play), Webster Hall Theatre, New York City, 1931, published in Scottsboro Limited: Four Poems and a Play, Golden Stair Press, 1932
Blood on the Fields, 1935
Mulatto, Vanderbilt Theatre, New York City, 1935, revived at American Folk Theatre, Theatre at Holy Name House, New York City, 1980, later Amistad World Theatre, 1982, published in Five Plays by Langston Hughes (edited by Webster Smalley), Indiana University Press (Bloomington, IN), 1963
Little Ham, Gilpin Players, Karamu Theatre, 1936, published in Five Plays by Langston Hughes, edited by Webster Smalley, Indiana Universtiy Press, 1963
Troubled Island, Gilpin Players, Karamu Theatre, 1936, produced asDrums of Haiti, Roxanne Players, Detroit, MI, 1937, revised version produced as The Emperor of Haiti, Manhattan Art Theatre, Theatre of St.Martin's Episcopal Church, New York City, 1938
When the Jack Hollers; or, Careless Love, Gilpin Players, Karamu House, 1936
St. Louis Woman, 1936
No Left Turn (one-act), Community Laboratory Theatre, Karamu Theatre, 1936
Joy to My Soul, Gilpin Players, Karamu House, 1937
Soul Gone Home (one-act), Gilpin Players, Karamu Theatre, 1937, then Negro Arts Players, Elks Theatre, New York City, 1952, later in An Evening with the Bourgeosie (triple bill with "The Straphangers" and "A Delicate Question"), AMAS Repertory Theatre, Beaumont Hall Theatre, New York City,1973, published in Five Plays by Langston Hughes (edited by Webster Smalley), Indiana University Press, 1963
Don't You Want to Be Free? (one-act), Harlem Suitcase Theatre, NewYork City, 1937, then Nora Bayes Theatre, New York City, 1938
Front Porch, Gilpin Players, Karamu House, 1938
Little Eva's End (one-act), Harlem Suitcase Theatre, 1938
Limitations of Life (one-act), Harlem Suitcase Theatre, 1938
The Em-Fuehrer Jones (one-act), Harlem Suitcase Theatre, 1938
Angelo Herndon Jones (one-act), Harlem Suitcase Theatre, 1938
And lyricist with Arna Bontemps, Tropics after Dark (musical; composed by Margaret Bonds), American Negro Exposition, Chicago, IL, 1940
(With Arna Bontemps) Cavalcade of the Negro Theatre, 1940
Sold Away (musical), 1941, produced as The Sun Do Move, Skyloft Players, Good Shepherd Community House Theatre, Chicago, 1942
That Eagle, 1942
For This We Fight, Madison Square Garden, New York City, 1943
Hotel Black Majesty, 1943
Popo and Fifina (for children; based on his book), 1943
And lyricist, Just around the Corner (musical; composed by Joe Sherman), 1951
The Glory Round His Head, 1953
Pennsylvania Song, 1953
Love from a Tall Building (one-act musical), 1954
And lyricist, Simple Takes a Wife (based on his story collection),1955, produced as Simply Heavenly (composed by David Martin), New York City, 1957
St. James: Sixty Years Young (one-act), 1955
The Ballot and Me (one-act pageant), 1956
Glory of Negro History (pageant), 1958
Mr. Jazz (musical), 1960
And lyricist, Ballad of the Brown King (musical; composed by Margaret Bonds), 1960
Black Nativity: Christmas Song Play (based in part on Ballad ofthe Brown King), 41st Street Theatre, then York Theatre, both New York City, 1962, revived at Crossroads Theatre Company, New Brusnwick, NJ, 1985-86
Gospel Glow (also known as The Gospel Glory: A Passion Play), 1962
And lyricist, Jericho-Jim Crow, 1963
And lyricist, Tambourines to Glory (based on his novel), New YorkCity, 1963, published in Five Plays by Langston Hughes (edited by Webster Smalley), Indiana University Press, 1963
The Prodigal Son, Greenwich Mews Theatre, New York City, 1965
Mother and Child (one-act vignette; based on his short story), 1965
(With Bob Teague), Soul Yesterday and Today, 1965
(Translator) Federico Garcia-Lorca, Blood Wedding, Public/Martinson Theatre, New York City, 1992
Other plays include Outshines the Sun and the one-act musical, Tell It to Telstar.
Lyrics for the Stage
Street Scene (book by Elmer Rice; composed by Kurt Weill), AdelphiTheatre, New York City, 1947, revived by New York City Opera, New York StateTheatre, New York City, 1990, published by Chappell (New York City), 1948
(With others) Berlin to Broadway with Kurt Weill, Theatre de Lys,New York City, 1972
(With others) "A Perfectly Weill Evening," Quintessence Series, Cleveland Playhouse, 1987-88
(With others) Weill Women, Theatre Three, Dallas, TX, 1990-91
Also lyricist for the musical The Wizard of Altoona (composed by Elie Siegmeister).
Operas
De Organizer (one-act blues opera; composed by James P. Johnson),1939
Troubled Island (based on the play of the same title), New York City Opera Company, City Center Theatre, New York City, 1949
Librettist and lyricist, The Barrier (based on the play Mulatto and the Hughes story "Father and Son;" composed by Jan Meyerowitz), 1950
Esther, 1957
Librettist, Port Town (one-act; composed by Jan Meyerowitz), 1960
Also librettist for the operas Adam and Eve and the Apple (one-act), At the Jazz Ball (composed by Jan Meyerowitz), and Wide Wide River (based on the play The Scuffletown Outlaws by William Norman Cox; composed by Granville English).
Stage Play Collections
Five Plays by Langston Hughes (edited by Webster Smalley; containsLittle Ham, Mulatto, Simply Heavenly, Soul Gone Home, and Tambourines to Glory), Indiana University Press, 1963
Screenplays
(With Clarence Muse) Way Down South, RKO, 1942
Poems Used in Films
"Let America Be America Again," Seeing Red (documentary; also known as Seeing Red: Stories of American Communists), 1983
Teleplays

Specials
Beyond the Blues, 1954
It's a Mighty Wind, 1965
Strollin' Twenties, 1966
Lyrics for the song "Lonely House," in "The Music of Kurt Weill: September Songs" (also known as "The Unauthorized Kurt Weill: Don't Be Afraid"), Great Performances, PBS, 1995
Lyrics for the song "My People," in "Thomas Hampson: I Hear America Singing," Great Performances, PBS, 1997
Radio Plays
Booker T. Washington in Atlanta, CBS, 1940
(With Arna Bontemps) Jubilee: A Cavalcade of the Negro Theatre (based on their stage productions), CBS, 1941
Brothers, 1942
"John Henry Hammers It Out," Labor for Victory, NBC, 1943
Freedom's Plow, NBC Blue Network, 1943
The Man Who Went to War, BBC, 1944
In the Service of My Country, WNYC (New York City), 1944
Private Jim Crow, 1945
(With Noble Sissle) "Swing Time at the Savoy," Summer Musical Series, NBC, 1949
Poetry Collections
The Weary Blues, Knopf (New York City), 1926
Fine Clothes to the Jew, Knopf, 1927
(Editor) Four Lincoln University Poets, Lincoln University (Lincoln University, PA), 1930
The Negro Mother and Other Dramatic Recitations, Golden Stair Press, 1931
Dear Lovely Death, Troutbeck Press, 1931
The Dream Keeper and Other Poems, Knopf, 1932
Scottsboro Limited: Four Poems and a Play, Golden Stair Press, 1932
A New Song, International Workers Order, 1938
(With Robert Glenn) Shakespeare in Harlem, Knopf, 1942
Jim Crow's Last Stand, Negro Publications Society of America, 1943
Freedom's Plow, Musette Publishers, 1943
Lament for Dark Peoples and Other Poems, Holland, 1944
Fields of Wonder, Knopf, 1947
Montage of a Dream Deferred, Holt (New York City), 1951
One-Way Ticket, Knopf, 1949
(Editor with Arna Bontemps) The Poetry of the Negro, 1746-1949, Doubleday (New York City), 1949, revised edition published as Poetry of theNegro, 1746-1970, 1970
(Editor with Waring Cuney and Bruce M. Wright) Lincoln Universtiy Poets, Fine Editions, 1954
Selected Poems, Knopf, 1959
Ask Your Mama: Twelve Moods for Jazz, Knopf, 1961
(Editor) Poems from Black Africa, Indiana University Press, 1963
(Editor) New Negro Poets: U.S., foreword by Gwendolyn Brooks, Indiana University Press, 1964
The Panther and the Lash: Poems of Our Times, Knopf, 1967
Don't You Turn Back, edited by Lee Bennett Hopkins, Knopf, 1969
The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes, Knopf, 1994
The Block: Poems, Viking (New York City), 1995
Carol of the Brown King: Poems, Atheneum (New York City), 1997
The Pasteboard Bandit, Oxford University Press (New York City), 1997
Short Story Collections
The Ways of White Folks, Knopf, 1934
Simple Speaks His Mind, Simon & Schuster (New York City), 1950
Laughing to Keep from Crying, Holt, 1952
Simple Takes a Wife, Simon & Schuster, 1953
Simple Stakes a Claim, Rinehart, 1957
The Best of Simple, Hill & Wang (New York City), 1961
Something in Common and Other Stories, Hill & Wang, 1963
Simple's Uncle Sam, Hill & Wang, 1965
The Return of Simple, Hill & Wang, 1994
Short Stories of Langston Hughes (edited by Akiba Sullivan Harper), Hill & Wang, 1996
Individual short stories include "Father and Son" and "Trouble with the Angels."
Novels
Not without Laughter, Knopf, 1930, reprinted by Macmillan (New York City), 1986
Tambourines to Glory, John Day (New York City), 1958
Memoirs
The Big Sea: An Autobiography, Knopf, 1940, reprinted, Thunder's Mouth (New York City), 1986
I Wonder as I Wander: An Autobiographical Journey, Rinehart, 1956,reprinted, Thunder's Mouth, 1986
Nonfiction
A Negro Looks at Soviet Central Asia, Cooperative Publishing Society of Foreign Workers in the U.S.S.R., 1934
(With Roy De Carava) The Sweet Flypaper of Life, Simon & Schuster, 1955, reprinted, Howard University Press (Washington, DC), 1985
(With Milton Meltzer) A Pictorial History of the Negro in America,Crown (New York City), 1956, fourth edition published as A Pictorial History of Black Americans, 1973, sixth edition published as A Pictorial History of African Americans, 1995
(Editor with Arna Bontemps) The Book of Negro Folklore, Dodd (NewYork City), 1958, reprinted, 1983
Fight for Freedom: The Story of the NAACP, Norton (New York City),1962
(With Milton Meltzer) Black Magic: A Pictorial History of the Negro inAmerican Entertainment, Prentice-Hall (Englewood Cliffs, NJ), 1967
Black Misery, Paul S. Erickson, 1969, reprinted, Oxford UniversityPress, 1994
Writings for Children
(With Arna Bontemps) Popo and Fifina: Children of Haiti, Macmillan, 1932, reprinted, Oxford University Press, 1993
The First Book of Negroes, F. Watts (New York City), 1952
The First Book of Rhythms, F. Watts, 1954, published as The Book of Rhythms, Oxford University Press, 1995
Famous American Negroes, Dodd, 1954
Famous Negro Music Makers, Dodd, 1955
The First Book of Jazz, F. Watts, 1955, revised edition, 1976
The First Book of the West Indies, F. Watts, 1956, published in England as The First Book of the Caribbean, E. Ward, 1965
Famous Negro Heroes of America, Dodd, 1958
The First Book of Africa, F. Watts, 1960, revised edition, 1964
The Sweet and Sour Animal Book, Oxford University Press, 1994
Essays
Langston Hughes and the Chicago Defender: Essays on Race, Politics, and Culture, 1942-62, edited by Christopher C. De Santis, University of Illinois Press (Champaign, IL), 1995
Songs
In addition to songs and music written for plays, musicals, and operas, also lyricist for the songs "Lonely House" and "My People."
Anthologies
(Editor) An African Treasury: Articles, Essays, Stories, Poems by Black Africans, Crown, 1960
(Editor) The Book of Negro Humor, Dodd, 1966
(Editor) The Best Short Stories by Negro Writers: An Anthology from 1899 to the Present, Little, Brown (Boston, MA), 1967
The Langston Hughes Reader, Braziller, 1968
Good Morning Revolution: The Uncollected Social Protest Writing of Langston Hughes, edited by Faith Berry, Lawrence Hill (Westport, CT), 1973
Work also represented in other anthologies.
Correspondence
(With Arna Bontemps) Arna Bontemps-Langston Hughes Letters, 1925-1967, edited by Charles H. Nichols, Dodd, 1980
Other Writings
Contributor to periodicals, including Nation, African Forum, Black Drama, Players, Negro Digest, Black World, Freedomways, Harlem Quarterly, Phylon, Challenge, Negro Quarterly, and Negro Story.
Translations
(With Mercer Cook) Jacques Roumain, Masters of Dew, Reynal & Hitchcock, 1947, second edition, Liberty Book Club, 1957
(With Frederic Carruthers) Nicolas Guillen, Cuba Libre, Ward Ritchie, 1948
Selected Poems of Gabriela Mistral, Indiana University Press, 1957

Further Reference

Adaptations:

Hughes's poems and other writings have been adapted by numerous dramatists. The one-act play Trouble with the Angels was adapted by Bernard C.Schoenfeld from a short story by Hughes. The poems in Montage of a Dream Deferred were adapted by Robert Glenn for Shakespeare in Harlem, presented as a double-bill with God's Trombones at 41st Street Theatre in 1960. His prose, poetry, and lyrics were featured in Langston, presented at Mitzi E. Newhouse Theatre, New York City, in 1979; and in .. Love,Langston, Hartford Stage, Hartford, NY, 1998. Poems were adapted for thesolo performance, The Dream Keeper Speaks, Classic Theatre, in 1982.His works were featured, along with the work of other African-American authors, in Celebration, 1986. Hughes's poems were adapted for the television special Black Is a Beautiful Woman, broadcast by PBS in 1974. Another adaptation for television was "And Every Man Is Free: A Tribute to LangstonHughes," which was broadcast as an episode of For Our Times by CBS in1984. The film Looking for Langston, released in 1988, features selections from Hughes's work. Other adaptations include The Weary Blues, adapted by Woodie King, Jr., 1966; the jazz piece Ask Your Mama, 1969;and Langston Living, 1974.

OTHER SOURCES

Books:

Contemporary Authors, New Revision Series, Volume 34, Gale (Detroit, MI), 1991.
Contemporary Black Biography, Volume 4, Gale, 1993.

Periodicals:

Commentary, December 1996, p. 55.*

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