Let America Be America Again Conversations with Langston Hughes

by Hughes, Langston; De Santis, Christopher C.

• ISBN13: 9780192855046
• ISBN10: 0192855042
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2022-11-25
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

A collection of interviews, speeches, and essays by Langston Hughes.

Let America Be America Again: Conversations with Langston Hughes is a record of a remarkable man talking. In texts ranging from early interviews in the 1920s, when he was a busboy and scribbling out poems on hotel napkins, to major speeches, such as his keynote address at the First World Festival of Negro Arts in Dakar, Senegal, in 1966, Hughes's words further amplify the international reputation he established over the course of five decades through more widely-published and well-known poems, stories, novels, and plays.

In these interviews, speeches, and conversational essays, the writer referred to by admirers as the "Poet Laureate of the Negro Race" and the "Dean of Black Letters" articulated some of his most powerful critiques of fascism, economic and racial oppression, and compromised democracy. It was also through these genres that Hughes spoke of the responsibilities of the Black artist, documented the essential contributions of Black people to literature, music, and theatre, and chronicled the substantial challenges that Black artists face in gaining recognition, fair pay, and professional advancement. And it was through these pieces, too, that Hughes built on his celebrated work in other literary genres to craft an original, tragic-comic persona--a Blues poet in exile, forever yearning for and coming back to a home, a nation, that nevertheless continues to disappoint and harm him. A global traveler, Hughes's words, "Let America be America Again" were, throughout his career, always followed by a caveat: "America never was America to me."

Author Biography

Langston Hughes

Christopher C. De Santis is Professor and Chair of the Department of English at Illinois State University. He is editor of Langston Hughes: A Documentary Volume; Langston Hughes and the Chicago Defender: Essays on Race, Politics, and Culture, 1942-62; and two volumes in The Collected Works of
Langston Hughes-Essays on Art, Race, Politics, and World Affairs and Fight for Freedom and Other Writings on Civil Rights. His work has also appeared in African American Review, American Studies, CLA Journal, Contemporary Literary Criticism, Langston Hughes Review, The Oxford Companion to African
American Literature, The Southern Quarterly, and other publications.

Table of Contents

Introduction
1: From Busboy Poet to an International Voice for the Working Masses
"Langston Hughes, 'Busboy Poet' and Writer of 'Weary Blues,' Tells How a Long Shot First Gave Him a Chance to Scale Height," 1926
Langston Hughes, "The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain," 1926
Floyd J. Calvin, "Langston Hughes Answers His Critics," 1927
Langston Hughes, "These Bad New Negroes: A Critique on Critics," 1927
Nicolás Guillén, Translated by Edward J. Mullen, "Conversation with Langston Hughes," 1929
Langston Hughes, "Negro Art and Its Audience," 1931
Langston Hughes, "Negro Art and Publicity Value," 1931
Langston Hughes, "Negro Art and The Artist," 1931
"Langston Hughes Sends Message From Russia to Voters: Noted Poet Sees Hope in Communist Party," 1932
Langston Hughes, "Portion of a Speech by Langston Hughes Before the Pan-Pacific Club of Tokyo, June 30, 1933, As Reported in the Japan Advertiser Tokyo, July 1, 1933"
Langston Hughes, "From Moscow to Shanghai," 1933
"Negro Author Is Tossed Out by Japanese-Writer Prohibited to Stay in Japan After Visits to Russia and Shanghai," 1933
Langston Hughes, "To Negro Writers,""1935
Langston Hughes, Radio Broadcast Regarding the Third United States Congress Against War and Fascism, Cleveland, Ohio, 1936
Langston Hughes, Excerpt from "The Negro Faces Fascism," a speech Hughes made at the Third U. S. Congress Against War and Fascism, Cleveland, Ohio, 1936
Langston Hughes, "Too Much of Race," 1937
Langston Hughes, "Negroes in Spain," 1937
Langston Hughes, "Madrid's House of Culture," 1937
"Negro Poet Notes Racial Prejudices-Langston Hughes Declares It Exists Throughout North America," 1938
George Harris, "The Worker's Poet: An Interview with Langston Hughes," 1938
Langston Hughes, "Writers, Words and the World," Speech at the International Writers Association for the Defense of Culture, Paris, France, 1938
Langston Hughes, "Democracy and Me," Speech at the Public Session of the Third American Writers' Congress, Carnegie Hall, New York City, 1939
2: Jim Crow, Economics, War, and the Black Writer
"Dunbar Gave Inspiration to His Work, Author Says," 1940
Langston Hughes, "Let's Get It Straight [Concerning 'Goodbye, Christ']," 1941
Langston Hughes, "Democracy, Negroes, and Writers," Speech made in absentia, Fourth Congress of the League of American Writers, New York City, 1941
"Poet Explains Crux of Color Problem Here-Langston Hughes Reads Many Poems at Century Club," 1943
Langston Hughes and Others, "Let's Face the Race Question," 1944
"Hughes Speaks On Racial Works: Tells of His Observations of Minority Problems in Other Nations," 1944
"Poetry To Be Appreciated Must 'Come Easy'-Langston Hughes," 1944
William A. Caldwell, "Decay of an Idea: II," 1945
Stella Kamp, "Langston Hughes Speaks to Young Writers," 1946
Mary Harrington, "Jim Crow Can't Keep a Poet Down," 1947
Langston Hughes and the Editors, "Some Practical Observations: A Colloquy," 1950
Langston Hughes, "Ten Ways to Use Poetry in Teaching," speech at the Public Meeting of the College Language Association's Eleventh Annual Conference, Morgan State College, Baltimore, Maryland, 1951
3: Hughes Faces McCarthyism
Testimony of Langston Hughes (Accompanied by His Counsel, Frank D. Reeves), Tuesday, 24 March 1953
Public Testimony of Langston Hughes (Accompanied by His Counsel, Frank D. Reeves), 26 March 1953
"Langston Hughes Speaks," 1953
4: The Racial Artist Confronts the Blacklist
Langston Hughes, "Jazz as Communication," 1956
Langston Hughes, "Humor and the Negro Press," 1957
Langston Hughes, "Langston Hughes Speech at the National Assembly of Authors and Dramatists Symposium: 'The Writer's Position in America," 1957
Martha MacGregor, "Simple Is Back," 1957
Ted Poston, "Closeup: The 'Simple' World of Langston Hughes," 1957
Jim Davis, "F.Y.I.-For Your Information," 1958
Langston Hughes, "Writers: Black and White," Speech at The American Society of African Culture's Conference of Negro Writers, New York City, 1959
Langston Hughes, "Langston Hughes' Acceptance of the Spingarn Medal," 1960
"Langston Hughes, Writer (No Date)," 1960
"Ministers Protest Poet's Mills Talk," 1961
"Langston Hughes Interviewed by Reuben and Dorothy Silver," 1961
5: The International Dignitary Caps a Distinguished Career
Nat Hentoff, Moderator, with Langston Hughes and Others, "The Negro in American Culture," 1961
Ted Poston, "Closeup: At Home with the Poet," 1962
Langston Hughes, "American Interest in African Culture," Address at the Opening of the USIS Center and Library, Accra, Ghana, 1962
Lewis Nichols, "Poems to Play: Langston Hughes Describes the Genesis of His 'Tambourines to Glory,'" 1963
Walter Kerr, "Banned on TV, Writer's Story Told: 'I'm Not a Formal Poet . . . Highly Conventional,'" 1963
Langston Hughes, "Hold Fast to Dreams," Address at Lincoln University, Pennsylvania, 1964
Langston Hughes and Geoffrey Bridson, "Langston Hughes Discusses the Position of the Negro in America Today," 1964
Langston Hughes, "A Letter from America," 1965
Langston Hughes, "Black Writers in a Troubled World," Address at the First World Festival of Negro Arts, Dakar, Senegal, 1966
Richard Rive, "Taos in Harlem: An Interview with Langston Hughes," 1967
Notes