"I, too, sing America

I am the darker brother.

They send me to eat in the kitchen

When company comes,

But I laugh,

And eat well,

And grow strong.

Tomorrow,

I'll be at the table

When company comes.

Nobody'll dare

Say to me,

"Eat in the kitchen,"

Then.

Besides,

They'll see how beautiful I am

And be ashamed-

I, too, am America."

With such simple, yet poignant words, Langston Hughes burst onto the American poetry scene, giving voice to a people too long neglected and ignored by the American literary scene.

Born in Joplin, Missouri in 1902 and the great, great grandnephew of John Mercer Langston, http://www.biography.com/artic les/John-Mercer-Langston-93732 65, the first African American to hold public office, Langston Hughes was a thoughtful boy, well aware of his calling and talent at a young age. He is believed to have begun writing in eighth grade, and would spend his life searching the soul of Black America; bringing to life, not only his personal experience, but that of a people raised and lost in a country that had yet to fulfill its promise of equality and justice for all.

Langston's parents were divorced when he was young, and he lived with his grandmother to Lincoln, Illinois, until he was 13. He then settled in Cleveland, Ohio, with his mother and her new husband.

While he held numerous jobs, and even attended Columbia University under the guise of an engineering major, writing was always the siren that called to Langston Hughes. His ability to write words in the same rhythms of the jazz he heard in clubs throughout Harlem and around the world gave his poems life breath that permeates the soul. He was also a prolific essayist, and wrote eleven dramas and compilations of dramas.

Langston Hughes gave voice to Black artists through his outspoken and articulate essays. "The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain," one of his most famous, was published in "The Nation" in 1926. Here, he stated that "We younger Negro artists now intend to express our individual dark-skinned selves without fear or shame. If white people are pleased we are glad. If they aren't, it doesn't matter. We know we are beautiful. And ugly, too ...If colored people are pleased we are glad. If they are not, their displeasure doesn't matter either. We build our temples for tomorrow, as strong as we know how and we stand on the top of the mountain, free within ourselves." It was this voice that played an integral role in the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920's, and helped propel Langston Hughes to the forefront of America's literary soul during this time period.

Langston Hughes received a scholarship to Lincoln University (Pennsylvania) where he received his B.A. degree in 1929. In 1943, he was awarded an honorary Lit.D by his alma mater; a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1935 and a Rosenwald Fellowship in 1940.

He continued to write, speak, and create a bridge of understanding and beauty between the races his entire life. He died of complications with cancer in May, 1967, yet his legacy lives through the rhythm of the streets and his unyielding passion to give voice to a generation and a people too long slighted, marginalized and forgotten.

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