Pictured from left to right: Langston Hughes, Toni Morrison and Sterling A. Brown
Retrieved,from: https://poets.org/poet/langston-hughes, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Toni-Morrison,https://samepassage.org/sterling-brown/
For centuries, many Black writers have helped prompt societal change and highlight systemic problems throughout America. Today, I will be taking a look at three influential literary figures, as well as highlighting some of my favorite pieces from their extensive catalogs.
Langston Hughes, born James Mercer Langston Hughes, began writing poetry at age thirteen. After graduating high school, Hughes spent a year in Mexico, studied at Colombia, and worked many odd jobs while traveling all over the world.
He moved to Washington, D.C. in 1924, and had his first poetry book, The Weary Blues, published. He is best known for using his poetry to serve as a narrative for his experience as a Black man in America throughout the 1920s.
He was one of the most significant figures of the Harlem Renaissance, and produced some of the most lyrical poems, obviously paying homage to the jazz culture of the time. Some of my personal favorites include: “Harlem”, “I, Too” and “The Bitter River.”
Similarly, Sterling Allen Brown was a devoted teacher, academic, activist and poet. His work became more versed in the late 1960’s due to the Black Consciousness Movement (an anti-apartheid movement in South Africa) leading to a reprint in the early 1970’s.
However, before his larger-scale critical acclaim, he earned a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree from Harvard University and largely spent his time teaching.
His poems are appreciated because of his unique use of Afro-American vernacular, intricate studies of societal treatment of African Americans, and its effect on literary portrayal. Some of his poems that capture his skills as an artist are “Long Track Blues” and “Ma Rainey”, among others.
Toni Morrison, Nobel Prize Recipient, was a novelist from the Midwest, who often wrote stories centric to the Black, female experience. She began her literary journey with a bachelor’s degree from Howard, and master’s degree from Cornell, and then went on to work for a couple of years as a teacher.
In 1970, she published her first book The Bluest Eye, infamous for its brutal, yet raw, portrayal of the imposing, euro-centric beauty standards through the eyes of a severely abused and neglected child in the 1930s.
Although this book is a hard read (one should definitely heed the trigger warnings before proceeding), it is a beautiful piece of work that highlights deeply personal struggles from a unique perspective.
These writers, and many more, have made a profound impact on the world of literature, each in their own ways. Their books and poems serve as an outreach for empathy, and are very well-written. To read some of their works, you can check out the catalog at the Knight-Capron library here on campus.
N/A. Langston Hughes. Poets.org. https://poets.org/poet/langston-hughes
N/A. Sterling A. Brown. Poetry Foundation. https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/sterling-a-brown
The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica. (2024). Toni Morrison | Biography, Books, & Facts. Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Toni-Morrison
