LEGISLATIVE RESOLUTION commemorating the 113th Anniversary of the birth
of Langston Hughes on February 1, 2015

WHEREAS, As we celebrate the champions of civil rights during Black
History Month we must also remember those, such as Langston Hughes, who
have contributed to the literary culture of the African American commu-
nity in both historical narratives and fiction; and
WHEREAS, James Mercer Langston Hughes was born on February 1, 1902, in
Joplin, Missouri; while his mother moved around during his youth, Lang-
ston was raised primarily by his maternal grandmother, Mary, until she
died in his early teens; and
WHEREAS, Langston Hughes first began writing poetry when one of his
teachers introduced him to the works of Carl Sandburg and Walt Whitman,
both of whom he would later cite as primary influences; and
WHEREAS, In 1920, Langston Hughes graduated from high school and spent
the following year in Mexico with his father; around this time, his poem
THE NEGRO SPEAKS OF RIVERS was published in THE CRISIS magazine and was
highly praised; and
WHEREAS, In 1921, Langston Hughes returned to the United States and
enrolled at Columbia University where he studied briefly, during which
time he quickly became a part of Harlem's improving cultural movement;
and
WHEREAS, Langston Hughes worked various jobs including as a busboy in
a Washington, D.C. hotel restaurant when he met American poet Vachel
Lindsay; Langston showed him some of his poems and he was impressed
enough to use his connections to promote Hughes's poetry and ultimately
bring it to a wider audience; and
WHEREAS, In 1925, Langston Hughes's poem THE WEARY BLUES won first
prize in the OPPORTUNITY magazine literary competition, and in addition
to winning, he received a scholarship to attend Lincoln University, in
Pennsylvania; and
WHEREAS, While studying at Lincoln, Langston Hughes's poetry came to
the attention of novelist and critic Carl Van Vetches, who helped him
get his first book of poetry, THE WEARY BLUES, published by Knopf in
1926; and
WHEREAS, After his graduation from Lincoln in 1929, Langston Hughes
published his first novel, NOT WITHOUT LAUGHTER; the book was commer-
cially successful enough to convince Langston he could make a living as
a writer; and
WHEREAS, During the 1930s, Langston Hughes would frequently travel the
United States on lecture tours, as well as abroad to the Soviet Union,
Japan, and Haiti; and
WHEREAS, In 1940, Langston Hughes's autobiography, up to the age of
28, THE BIG SEA, was published; also around this time, he began contrib-
uting a column to the CHICAGO DEFENDER, for which he created a comic
character named Jesse B. Semple, better known as "Simple," a black Ever-
yman whom Langston Hughes used to further explore urban, working-class
black themes, and to address racial issues; and
WHEREAS, Over the next two decades, Langston Hughes would continue his
prolific output; in 1949, he wrote a play that inspired the opera "Trou-
bled Island" and published yet another anthology of work, THE POETRY OF
THE NEGRO; and
WHEREAS, During the 1960s, he published countless other works, includ-
ing several books in his SIMPLE series, English translations of the
poetry of Federico Garcia Lorca and Gabriela Mistral, another anthology
of his own poetry, and the second installment of his autobiography, I
WONDER AS I WANDER; and

WHEREAS, On May 22, 1967, Langston Hughes died at the age of 65; a
tribute to his poetry, his funeral contained little in the way of spoken
eulogy, but was filled with jazz and blues music; in addition, his ashes
were interred beneath the entrance of the Schomburg Center for Research
in Black Culture in Harlem; and
WHEREAS, Langston Hughes's Harlem home, on East 127th Street, received
New York City Landmark status in 1981, and was added to the National
Register of Historic Places in 1982; and
WHEREAS, Volumes of his work continue to be published and translated
throughout the world; in 2002, the United States Postal Service added
the image of Langston Hughes to its Black Heritage series of postage
stamps; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, That this Legislative Body pause in its deliberations to
commemorate the 113th Anniversary of the birth of Langston Hughes on
February 1, 2015; and be it further
RESOLVED, That a copy of this Resolution, suitably engrossed, be tran-
smitted to the family of Langston Hughes.