Langston Hughes poems are about the ordinary Black man—his struggle, his mundane life, his beauty and his dreams. There’s no better way to describe Hughes’s poetry than with his own words: ...

Hughes's ability to speak to the experiences of African Americans, while also addressing universal themes of freedom, ...

This month, as we honor National Poetry Month, I wanted to shine a light on some of those lesser-known poems.They may not be the ones quoted at rallies or printed on posters, but they hit just as ...

Langston Hughes didn't spend much of his childhood in Missouri, but the poet's presence lingers. Hughes, one of our truest American compasses, entered the world on the first day of February 1901 ...

What Langston Hughes’ Powerful Poem “I, Too” Tells Us About America’s Past and Present Smithsonian historian David Ward reflects on the work of Langston Hughes ...

Langston Hughes didn't spend much of his childhood in Missouri, but the poet's presence lingers. Hughes, one of our truest American compasses, entered the world on the first day of February 1901 ...

That line comes from Langston Hughes' poem "Let America Be America Again," first published in Esquire in 1936. It's a long poem (which you can read in full here), that captures the wide swath of ...

The Poetry Reading’s founding in 1995 was preceded by the creation of the now-closed Langston Hughes Center for The Arts and Education, according to April Brown, co-director of the Poetry Reading. The ...

The poet, playwright and novelist Langston Hughes died 50 years ago this week. At his death, Hughes’ stature as a canonical figure in American culture was assured.

In 1960, the NAACP presented its highest honor — the Spingarn Medal — to poet and activist Langston Hughes. In accepting, Hughes made a point to give credit where he believed it was most due ...

By the time the British artist Isaac Julien’s iconic short essay-film “Looking for Langston” was released, in 1989, Julien’s ostensible subject, the enigmatic poet and race man Langston ...

An installation view of the exhibition “The Sweet and Sour Journey of Langston Hughes and Elmer W. Brown” at ARTneo in Cleveland. The 21 poems, letters from Hughes and over 30 illustrations ...