Langston Hughes

African-American Classics presents great stories and poems from America"s earliest Black writers, illustrated by contemporary African-American artists. Featured are "Two Americans" by Florence Lewis Bentley, "The Goophered Grapevine" by Charles W. Chesnutt, "Becky" by Jean Toomer, two short plays by Zora Neale Hurston, and six more tales of humor and tragedy. Also featured are eleven poems, including Langston Hughes" "Danse Africaine" and "The Negro", plus Paul Laurence Dunbar"s "Sympathy" ("I know why the caged bird sings...")

Jim Crow's Last Stand: Race And Culture Series No. 2 is a book written by Langston Hughes, a renowned African-American poet, novelist, and playwright. The book is a collection of essays, speeches, and poems that reflect on the racial discrimination and segregation that existed in the United States during the Jim Crow era. The book provides a historical perspective on the struggles of African Americans to gain equal rights and opportunities in a society that was deeply divided by race. It explores the political, social, and cultural factors that contributed to the rise and fall of Jim Crow laws, which enforced racial segregation in public places and institutions. Through his powerful prose and poetry, Langston Hughes highlights the experiences and voices of African Americans who fought against Jim Crow laws and challenged the status quo. He also examines the impact of Jim Crow laws on the cultural identity and artistic expression of African Americans, including jazz music, literature, and visual arts. Jim Crow's Last Stand: Race And Culture Series No. 2 is a thought-provoking and insightful book that sheds light on a dark chapter in American history. It is a must-read for anyone interested in understanding the legacy of racial discrimination and inequality in the United States. This is a new release of the original 1943 edition. This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the old original and may contain some imperfections such as library marks and notations. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions, that are true to their original work.

A gorgeously illustrated centennial of Langston Hughes' first book of poetry, The Weary Blues, this picture book includes select poems paired with vibrant artwork by more than twenty talented Black illustrators, including award-winners Oge Mora, Frank Morrison, Janelle Washington, and more! Brought to new life by lively illustrations on every page, Melodies of The Weary Blues introduces Langston Hughes’ intimate reflections on the Black experience in America to young readers in a fresh and approachable way. Featuring poems like “Dream Variation,” “Winter Moon,” and “The Negro Speaks of Rivers”, Hughes’ still resonant words shine like never before for readers everywhere. Includes an introduction by the editor, Shamar Knight-Justice, Langston Hughes’ biography and timeline of life, and biographies of all the contributors.

Langston Hughes's debut novel, a moving portrait of African American family life in 1930s Kansas, newly reissued for Union Square & Co.'s Herald Classics line. Originally published in 1930, Not Without Laughter follows Sandy Rogers as a boy living in rural Kansas to his arrival in Chicago as a young man, set against a backdrop of poverty, racial segregation, and the onset of World War I. Orbiting Sandy are a host of vividly realized family members, including his mother Annjee, a housekeeper for a wealthy white family; his irresponsible father Jimboy, who plays guitar and is constantly in search of work; his aunts, blues-singing Aunt Harriet and social-climbing Aunt Tempy; and his pious, strong-willed grandmother Hager, who holds the generations together. Partly inspired by Langston Hughes's early life in the Midwest, Not Without Laughter is the debut novel of the literary giant, a sweeping and elegiac family drama that traces Black life in the early twentieth century, an important setting in the history of a racially divided America.

Publishers Weekly's Top Ten Fall 2024 Poetry BooksBefore Langston Hughes and his literary prowess became synonymous with American poetry, he was an eighteen-year-old on a train to Mexico City, seeking funds to pursue his passion. His early poems, beloved verses like "The Negro Speaks of Rivers," were written without formal training, often on the back of napkins and envelopes, and were inspired by the sights and sounds of Black working-class people he encountered in his early life. Blues in Stereo is a posthumous collection of these early works, in which we see Langston Hughes like we've never seen him before. In the intimate pages of his handwritten journals, you will travel with Hughes outside of Harlem as he ventures to the American South and Mexico, sails through the Caribbean, and becomes the only Harlem renaissance poet to visit Africa. He celebrates love as a tool of liberation in his poems and journal entries. His songs included showcase musicality of verse poetry. And the book even includes a play he co-wrote with Duke Ellington with a full score that experiments with rhythm and structure. Blues in Stereo portrays a young man coming of age in a changing world. Page by page, a young, fresh-faced Hughes contends with matters beyond his years with raw talent. National Book Award nominated poet Danez Smith offers their insight and notes on themes, challenges, and obsessions that Hughes early work contains. Blues in Stereo foreshadows a master poet that will go on to define literature for centuries to come.