Research Paper on Langston Hughes

Research paper on Langston Hughes is historical in essence. Nevertheless, it does not mean that you should focus on the biography only. The range of possible subtopics is impressive. We have written a sample research paper on Langston Hughes for you. It is posted below. If you are looking for custom research paper help, try our individual writing services. Our essay writers are able to write a research paper from scratch. It means that we will write your paper in accordance to the specific requirements and in full adherence to the topic specifics! In addition, our essay blog contains a collection of effective research paper writing tips.

Research Paper on Langston Hughes: EXCERPTS

Langston Hughes came to the fore particularly in the months preceding Pearl Harbor. In June 1941, he celebrated an anniversary, as did Crisis. Twenty years earlier, in June 1921, Crisis had published "The Negro Speaks of Rivers," which was the first of his poems ever in print. Wilkins announced the coming anniversary, in the April 1941 number, and noted that "Crisis will indulge in a mild celebration and a little patting of itself on the back."

The June issue honored both Hughes and Crisis. First came accolades for the journal itself, in an editorial called, "We Take a Bow." Wilkins thought he and his colleagues could congratulate themselves, momentarily, because in Wilkins's words they had performed "no easy task." An "all-purpose magazine," Crisis had to manage three sometimes contradictory roles: as "a crusader for the cause of the Negro," true to the program of the NAACP.; as a "general magazine of Negro life," and as a literary journal. The first and third functions posed special difficulties. As an organ of propaganda, Crisis chased off prospective advertisers, most of whom shy away from the controversial. In its literary capacity, the magazine generally pleased only the literati, which comprised merely a small segment of the reading audience. "The encouragement of new talent does little, if anything, to attract new readers or new revenue," Wilkins noted. After recalling such difficulties, Wilkins took "peculiar satisfaction" in ending his editorial with praise, both for Hughes and Crisis, and with a commitment: "We salute him. We take a small bow for our- selves, and we pledge once again that our pages will be open always to young men and women of talent."

Then came a more extended tribute to Hughes. Under the title, "Twentieth Anniversary," "The Negro Speaks of Rivers" appeared once again in Crisis, along with a large picture of Hughes and a brief but laudatory summary of his career. The issue included two further contributions from Hughes, both of which showed his evolution from the preceding decades. Another poem, "NAACP," contrasted both in style and substance with such a piece as "Elderly Race Leaders," which had appeared in Race in 1936. Hughes was working more with traditional forms again, and he was actively giving his support to organizations he had earlier considered a bit stodgy: "The NAACP meets in Houston. / Folks, turn out in force! / We got to take some drastic steps / To break old Jim Crow's course."