Finding Langston + Langston Hughes Unit

May 22, 1967 - Langston Hughes shuffles off this mortal coil. His ashes are interred at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem.

Langston Hughes was a leader of the Harlem Renaissance and one of the earliest innovators of jazz poetry.  Born in Joplin, Missouri (1901), he grew up in the Midwest and began writing at a very young age.  As a young man, he moved to New York City, studied at Columbia and Lincoln Universities, and began his career as a writer.  His writing was heavily influenced by folk and jazz rhythms, and you can hear these in the 'listen' section below.

Hughes wrote plays, short stories, and poetry.  From 1942 to 1962, he wrote weekly columns in a black newspaper, The Chicago Defender, regarding the civil rights movement.  He was a source of inspiration for black people during this time, stressing racial consciousness and encouraging African-Americans to embrace their black pride.  

The Harlem Renaissance was a time of blooming intellectual and artistic developments in African-American culture.  Langston tried to honestly portray black lives, avoiding negative stereotypes, but also diverting from the idealization.  He wanted to see black people as people who had difficulties and celebrations just like everyone else.

Read

• Finding Langston
• It's 1946. Langston's mother has just died, and now they're leaving the rest of his family and friends. He misses everything--Grandma's Sunday suppers, the red dirt roads, and the magnolia trees his mother loved.  In the city, they live in a small apartment surrounded by noise and chaos. It doesn't feel like a new start, or a better life. At home he's lonely, his father always busy at work; at school he's bullied for being a country boy.  But Langston's new home has one fantastic thing. Unlike the whites-only library in Alabama, the Chicago Public Library welcomes everyone. There, hiding out after school, Langston discovers another Langston--a poet whom he learns inspired his mother enough to name her only son after him.
• Collected Poems of Langston Hughes

Listen

• Dream Deferred
• Merry-Go-Round
• The Weary Blues

Watch

• A Raisin in the Sun

Make / Do

• Start writing your own poetry!  Brainstorm with this Picture Inspiration.
• Choose a song, and use this Song Analysis sheet to analyze the lyrics.
• Our cover photo poem is by Darcy Ellington.  See more of her work here.

Vocabulary

• drone
• drowsy
• syncopated
• mellow
• dull
• pallor
• weary
• ebony
• ivory
• melody
• sway
• rickety
• melancholy
• tone
• chord
• satisfy
• croon

Think

• How did life in Harlem during the 1920s, 30s, and beyond influence Langston Hughes's work? How did he incorporate the cultural, societal, and political realities of the time into his writing?
• Langston Hughes unabashedly wrote about the hardships faced by Harlemites during uncertain economic and political times. However, he was criticized for oversimplifying his depiction of African Americans and the societal inequities they faced. Do you think his critics were correct in their opinions? Why or why not?

Our Own Poetry

Inspired by Langston, one of our sons took up the pen and created some poems of his own....they're dark, as most teen poems are, but pretty good!

Glittering come clouded skies That robe the pallor moon Whose veils of mist lay on her But yet add to the gloom For though the clouds are noble And may halt the sun in day At night I wish them to depart And the stars to find their way

Called of night, day brings my bane herald the fading of the light light obscures as much as day so why does only one bring flight No more say I, should we abide to endure the days harsh fire that burns the flesh and blinds the eye and brings no though but ire Oh vile sun, the light of life why pain do you deal me? to shun me from a life well lived and not but shadows see But why should I fail all for night opened its embrace it offered me comforts yet unknown how sweet that lady’s grace Thusly I embrace the night and though it always falls she returns in steady victory her spears of shadows tall

The empty silence fills my mind and the road is long and lonely I don’t know what I cannot find yet the road is long and lonely Blissful silence, gentle rest how needed your repose but ending come as quickly now and each day brings new woes Who can say what is left for me but to accept my dismal fate and pray the as I chase this life I will not come too late Though I stoic visage give for the paths that lie before my heart will shed its silent tears for that never open door

I am from whiteboads that line the day I am from deer trails that show me the way From fields that stretch to the distant sky In which for ticks I cannot lay I am from summer its sweltering heat Which even a night of without sun cannot beat From the hordes of misquitos and spiders to match To weeding the ever growing tomato patch I am from family that lives like the tide So full then so empty of those by my side I am from two houses a father and son Each waxing and waning till ones bell had rung From a cucumber harvest, a kitchen brine soaked To the unending figures in that same kitchen I wrote To the tears that were shed of pain in body and mind To the gentle caress as my mother was kind I am the snow of the sawdust clad floor The old knight pictured upon my door The ashes of a building burned The aroma of the rotisserie I turned I am from the world that was From days when tech was just because A life could be made easier yet And not upon your life you’d bet This is how I see this world Through the eyes of one so hurled At this mach pace through this broken land Where science rules yet fools demand We bow to the folly of their lies To carry them, yet I despise The touch of falsehood on my lips Not can I bear take the quips So silently in protesting quiet A bleeding tongue so caged and yet If these lines be never shown I will see them. Ill have known.

Looking for a literature-based language arts program? The Twenty-Three Reads Bundle is for someone who wants a little bit of everything! 

It includes twenty-three unit studies covering a wide range of topics. Each unit has introductory text, which will give the student basic background information about the topic at hand. These studies are directed toward upper grades students, but some have resources for younger students so that the whole family can work together.

• There are photographs and illustrations, and we have also included primary documents when available.
• After this text, there are featured videos, which augment the background information and help make the topic more accessible for more visual students.
• You will also find a short list of reading books, including a featured novel that the unit builds upon.
• There are vocabulary words, places, and people to identify.
• Reading comprehension, critical thinking questions, and writing assignments are included.
• We add fun with hands-on activities and extra videos to watch that will bring the era to life.

Includes:

• Language Arts
• Finding Langston & the Poetry of Langston Hughes
• Geography
• Anne of Green Gables & Canadian Provinces
• Stowaway & Antarctica
• Julie of the Wolves & Alaska
• Blades of Freedom & the Louisiana Purchase
• The Avion My Uncle Flew & France
• History
• Zlata’s Diary & the Slavic Wars
• Freedom Summer & the Summer of 1964
• Treasure Island & Pirates of the Caribbean Sea
• Farenheit 451 & Types of Government
• Red Stars & Russia in World War 2
• The Great Gatsby & the Roaring Twenties
• The Long List of Impossible Things & Post-War Germany
• A Tale of Two Cities & French Revolution
• Witch of Blackbird Pond & Salem Witch Trials
• The World Made New & Early Explorers
• Stitching a Life & Jewish Immigration
• Life Skills
• Teetoncey & Lifesaving Skills
• Freak of the Week & Disabilities Awareness
• Island of the Blue Dolphins & Sailing
• Science
• The Science of Breakable Things & the Scientific Method
• Frankenstein & Human Anatomy
• Charlie Thorne and the Last Equation & Albert Einstein

Product samples:

• Teetoncey & Lifesaving Skills
• Finding Langston & the Poetry of Langston Hughes
• Farenheit 451 & Types of Government