Langstone Hughes

Langstone Hughes

Langstone Hughes was an African-American writer best known for his poems and short stories, which he wrote during the Harlem Renaissance. Hughes was vocal against slavery and racism and fought for American identity. In the poem “I, Too, Sing America,” Hughes highlights the struggles of the American people of color and goes ahead to protest against it. Hughes envisioned an America where all would be equal without the brutality the country disenfranchised underwent during his time. Hughes desired more than equality, as seen in these lines; “Till the white day is done…while night comes on gently… that is my dream,” as they appear in “Dream Variations.”

Jean Toomer, Hughes’ contemporary, was an astonishing writer and vocal in his opposition to segregation. Toomer is in the record as resisting to be classified as a negro writer but instead identified as American. Whereas Hughes was proud of his black identity, Toomer’s characters grappled with their identity.

In “Kabnis,” Ralph refused to identify with his blackness, instead choosing to be self-absorbed and alienated. In contrast, Hughes had a way of conveying blackness as a pleasant Negro simplicity. This is evident in the lines of “Café 3”, such as “But God, Nature, or somebody made them that way…” about Negroes.

Despite the differences in identity, Toomer employed similar thematic elements to those of Hughes. For instance, their characters hardly obtained complete maturity. Toomer’s “Cane” is characterized by fragmented sections with blank spaces between each part, which were only related by a common theme.

Many of the women characters in the first part of “Cane” never achieved wholeness or developed a soul of their own. The novel is, at best, viewed as a collage or loose grouping of different parts. Such was the quality of the numerous poems by Hughes, some of which are difficult to decipher the intended meaning.

Music and song were common themes amongst Harlem writers, including Toomer and Hughes. The slave spirituals utilized music to express their fears, dreams, hopes, and desires. Toomer mimicked jazz composition in his verse and prose, which to some extent, attracted the white readers. Hughes’ works bore a similar inclination to music and song.

Reading the works of Toomer and Hughes, one cannot fail to feel the fangs of slavery. Both writers had a way of playing with words to create a vivid image of the loathsome practice of slavery. “Negro” by Hughes is an example of such works that capture the experiences of slavery in explicit detail (J.L., 2018). Starting from the biblical slavery of Israelites in Egypt, Hughes goes ahead to recount incidences of slavery in Congo and Georgia. “They lynch me still in Mississippi,” reads one of the lines.

“Cane” by Toomer describes the legacy of slavery in equal detail. The characters in the novel experience slavery in several ways. They have to fight racially biased legislation in the South, strive to create their identity, and bear the pressure of integrating into the white-dominated North. Their bodies and spirits bear scars in their effort to create art in a highly oppressive world.

James Weldon Johnson, born some 31 years before Hughes, was among the pioneers of the Harlem Renaissance. Johnson’s earlier works were devoid of pomp and only captured the only two emotions that were allowable at the time; humor and pathos (Millican, n.d). “Jingles and Croons” was written at this time. As time went by, Johnson integrated the Victorian style of English, and his works became richer in language. Such complexity is evident in his song “Lift Every Voice,” written in 1900. Johnson would later start writing in free verse, a deep contrast to Hughes’ rhythmic style of writing.

Despite their differences in style, both Johnson and Hughes wrote explicitly about the identity of African Americans. In his works “Bards” and “Lift Every Voice,” Johnson related the presence of Negroes in America through slavery, although he maintained relevance to the American dream just like Hughes. Reading through his works, one cannot fail to find the themes of liberty, responsibility, freedom, authority, and the artist in America.

Living in the same era as Hughes was Countee Cullen, a prominent African-American writer, and contributor to the Renaissance. Unlike most of his contemporaries, Cullen wrote from a spiritual standpoint (Daniel, n.d). The poem “Simon the Cyrenian Speaks,” for instance, was based on Matthew 27:32. Later works such as “Copper Sun” and “The Ballard of the Brown Girl” were a summary of his relationship with Christian and pagan cultures.

Unlike the writers of his time, Cullen often ignored the social protest, which was the central theme of Langston Hughes. Instead, Cullen developed an elitist attitude towards matters of race. Cullen also preferred writing in free verse, as seen in his first volume, “Color.” This contrasted Hughes’ inclination to blues-based rhythms. Cullen believed the voice of black artists had to be harmonized with the bearers of the tradition. Such is clearly depicted in his praise for the 19th-century lyricist John Keats.

Like Hughes, Jessie Fauset focused on African discrimination, although she did not receive much credit for it. Fauset played the role of midwife to many upcoming artists, including Hughes, during her tenure as literary editor at The Crisis. Hughes even acknowledged Fauset’s midwifery role in his memoir “The Big Sea.”

Fausetenvisioned a world where all people had could express themselves without intimidation, hence her commendable effort in nurturing upcoming artists. Such was the message in the works of Hughes. Cheryl Wall captures the contribution by Fauset in her “Women of the Harlem Renaissance.” According to Wall, failing to recognize the contribution of Fauset amounts to a loss of literary history.

Although Hughes and Fauset championed for the identity of the Africans, both were reserved in expressing their ideas. For instance, Hughes was tight-lipped in the poem addressed to F. S., which appeared in “The Weary Blues” (Als, 2015). Readers are not only left to guess who F.S. was, but the poem is equally scanty. “I loved my friend; He went away from me…” are the only suggestive lines in the six-line poem.

In her novel “Plum Bun,” Fauset speaks of an African-American girl who saw her sister at the train station but pretended not to recognize her in an attempt to maintain the charade that she was white. The novel still sparks questions that are of interest today. One wonders whether black artists should reflect the larger ideals of their community or not.

Apart from speaking for the black community, similarities in the works of Fauset and Hughes are but few. Fauset wrote more about the upper-class, college-educated audience, while Hughes focused on the lower class in the society (Jerkins, 2017). Fauset was concerned about how caste affected the African-Americans.

Conclusion

Langstone Hughes lived at a time when racism was still high in America. It is clear from his works that he was painfully aware of racial oppression. Like most of his contemporaries, he vehemently condemned slavery and racism using art. Hughes used a style that was easy to understand, although he was reserved in his expressions. Hughes remains a significant figure for transformation in the Harlem Renaissance.