Author: Langston Hughes

James Mercer Langston Hughes (February 1, 1901 – May 22, 1967) was an American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist from Joplin, Missouri. He moved to New York City as a young man, where he made his career. One of the earliest innovators of the then-new literary art form called jazz poetry, Hughes is best known as a leader of the Harlem Renaissance. He famously wrote about the period that "the negro was in vogue", which was later paraphrased as "when Harlem was in vogue."

Poems

Mother To Son

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Well, son, I’ll tell you:Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair.It’s had tacks in it,And splinters,And boards torn up,And places with no carpet on the floor—Bare. But all the timeI’se been a-climbin’ on,And reachin’ landin’s,And turnin’ corners,And sometimes goin’ in the darkWhere there ain’t been no light.So, boy, don’t you turn back. Don’t you set down on the steps.’Cause you finds it’s kinder hard.Don’t you fall now—For I’se still goin’, honey,I’se still climbin’,And life for me ain’t been no crystal stair

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Poems

Merry-Go-Round

By

COLORED CHILD AT CARNIVALWhere is the Jim Crow sectionOn this merry-go-round,Mister, cause I want to ride?Down South where I come fromWhite and coloredCan’t sit side by side. Down South on the trainThere’s a Jim Crow car.On the bus we’re put in the back–But there ain’t no backTo a merry-go-round!Where’s the horseFor a kid that’s black?

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