Langston Hughes: Racism, Jazz, and Work in His Writing

Introduction: A Legacy Rooted in Activism

One could say that Langston Hughes was destined to make a difference in the African American community. His great-great uncle was John Mercer Langston, the first Black American elected to public office ("Langston Hughes"). At his birth, Hughes's parents could not have known that their son would one day surpass even that distinguished legacy. His parents did have high expectations of him — they sent him to university to become an engineer — but his father was not supportive of his decision to pursue literature and poetry. Nevertheless, Hughes's family legacy ran deep within him. With the dedication he learned from his grandmother Mary Langston and from the other famous abolitionists and social activists in his family, he continued to pursue poetry (Rampersad, para. 3).

Although Rampersad notes that "Hughes struggled with a sense of desolation fostered by parental neglect," he argues that this isolation ultimately led Hughes to books, compelling the young poet to immerse himself in the literary world. The impact literature had on Hughes must have been powerful, for his body of work was remarkably impressive. By the time he enrolled at university, he had already written "The Negro Speaks of Rivers" (Rampersad, para. 2). Upon his death from cancer in 1967, Hughes had produced plays, musicals, operas, children's poetry, essays, novels, and poetry. Much of this work addressed racial discrimination, a theme prominent not only in his own life but in the lives of his forebears. Through an examination of racism, music and jazz, and working-class labor in the life of Langston Hughes, it becomes clear how these forces shaped his writing.

Racism and Race as Central Themes

Probably the most important issue in Hughes's life was racism and the question of racial identity. Rampersad states that when Hughes first began to write, he "committed himself both to writing and to writing mainly about African Americans" (para. 1). His first published poem, "The Negro Speaks of Rivers," appeared in a publication edited by W. E. B. Du Bois. Loyalty to his race and commitment to African American rights were in Hughes's blood: his relatives had been present at Harpers Ferry, had worked tirelessly for abolition, and had been influential in African American communities across the nation (Rampersad, para. 3). Despite this rich lineage, Hughes's response to racism was distinctly his own. He chose the pen rather than the podium.

Hughes's poetry was greatly shaped by the ideas of race and racism he had been taught to oppose. In his verse, he used vivid imagery and carefully controlled sound patterns to focus the reader's attention on racial themes. This is especially evident in "The Negro Speaks of Rivers." The poem opens with the declaration, "I've known rivers" (Hughes, line 1), and proceeds to list rivers deeply connected to African American culture and history. The Euphrates, the Congo, and the Nile evoke Hughes's African and Middle Eastern roots, while the Mississippi points to both his American present and his enslaved past. The time imagery — "rivers ancient as the world and older than the flow of human blood in human veins" (Hughes, lines 2–3) — conveys both the endurance and the weight of the African American struggle. The closing line, "My soul has grown deep like the rivers," draws the focus back to the speaker and asserts the timelessness of that struggle. What initially appears to be a poem about nature or geography reveals itself as a meditation on race and identity.

Hughes's essays reflect this influence just as clearly. After leaving university to work a series of jobs while traveling internationally, Hughes returned to study at Lincoln University, a historically Black institution (Rampersad, para. 7). There he encountered the ideas of leading Black essayists and thinkers. He was also influenced in his poetry by Black poets Paul Laurence Dunbar and Claude McKay (Rampersad, para. 5). These experiences, combined with the emphasis on racial pride instilled in him during childhood, shaped his essays profoundly.

One of the most striking examples is "The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain." In this essay, Hughes argues that many Black families have internalized the dominant culture's values to such a degree that they equate whiteness with goodness and advancement. As a result, the Black poet from such a family wishes to be regarded not as a Negro poet but simply as a poet — which Hughes interprets as a desire, consciously or not, to be white. Against this tendency, Hughes argues that the Black poet should embrace and celebrate his or her unique heritage rather than striving to imitate those who do not share it.

Through this essay, the impact of racism on Hughes's worldview is unmistakable. Having studied brilliant Black thinkers and coming from a long line of ancestors who celebrated their African heritage, Hughes saw the Black poet's desire to write like white poets as another form of internalized racism — one more institution by which society discouraged African Americans from valuing themselves. Hughes thus used the essay form not only to express the impact racism had on his life but also to call for change. Race remained a central subject in both his poetry and his prose, confirming that his life experience directly shaped his literary output.

Conclusion: Life as the Foundation of Art

As a workingman, poet, lover of jazz, traveler, and intellectual, Langston Hughes made a lasting impression on people of all backgrounds from across the world. Because he led a diverse life, he was able to produce diverse and prolific work. His writing was a direct result of that life — a life characterized primarily by the experience of racism, but also by the rhythms of jazz and the realities of working-class struggle. Together, these forces account for both the breadth and the urgency of his literary legacy.

Works Cited

Fishman, George. "Langston Hughes: Working-class voice for equality, peace and socialism." People's Weekly World, 30 March 2002.

Hughes, Langston. "The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain." World History Archives, 15 March 2000.

Hughes, Langston. "The Negro Speaks of Rivers." PoemHunter.com, n.d.

"Langston Hughes." PoemHunter.com, n.d.

Lund, Elizabeth. "Langston Hughes set poetry to a jazz beat." The Christian Science Monitor, 29 February 2002.

Rampersad, Arnold. "Hughes's Life and Career." Modern American Poetry, 1997.