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One day when I was living at the Langston Hughes House, I was heading out to do a couple of neighborhood errands. I overheard the snippet of conversation between two teenagers walking home from school, “That's where Langston Huge lived.” It was the second time I've heard this rather complementary mispronunciation of the great writer's name, whose three-story brownstone in East Harlem I have lived in since 1985. February 1^st, 2007 was his 105^th birthday.

In 2002, there was a commemorative U.S. postage stamp of Langston Hughes released on his 100^th birthday.

Here's some of what I have learned about Langston Hughes through my involvement with his Harlem home for 16 years.

In his writings, Langston celebrated the human spirit in ways that transcend the racial, cultural and economic chasms that separate people. In “Mother to Son”, for example, the voice is distinctly that of poor, black woman, who implores her son to keep striving, “Don't you sit down 'cause you find its kinder hard,” and everyone instantly relates.

Langston's writings are so universal that an exhibit at the Schomburg Library in Harlem several years ago, portrayed Hughes as “America's Most Translated Poet.” The display showed Hughes' poetry translated into over sixty different foreign languages. I have corresponded with scholars from Asia to Africa, who have informed me that Langston's works are translated into their native languages and that he taught at both the secondary and university levels. Langston Hughes' writings are well established in educational institutions throughout the world.

Langston was the first African American writer who supported himself solely through his writing. Examining a 1962 tax return found in the writer's 3^rd floor study one sees the numerous and varied sources of royalties, usually in relatively small amounts, from which Langston derived his income. As a black writer working in the 1920's through the 1960's Hughes never received large amounts of money for his work. Perhaps economics drove him to be as prolific as he was.

HARLEM
By Langston Hughes

(Photo by Bernard Hirschenson)

What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun?
Or does it fester like a sore, and then run?
Maybe it just stinks like rotten meat
Or crust and sugar over like a syrupy sweet?
Maybe it just sags like a heavy load
Or does it explode?

HARLEM DREAM ACHIEVED

What happens to a dream achieved?
It doesn't dry up like a raisin in the sun.
It doesn't fester like a sore, and then run.
It don't stink like rotten meat,
It doesn't crust and sugar over like a syrupy sweet.
It don't sag like a heavy load,
It just explodes!

Update On Langston's Work By: J. Nayer Hardin

It is clear that Langston's literary genius allowed him to succeed at writing endeavors that ranged from gospel musicals to history books and just about everything else in between.

Capturing the music and rhythms of American Jazz and Blues in poetry was a unique contribution to the world's literature made by Langston Hughes. That may help explain why there are at least 250 known musical settings of Langston's poetry by musicians and composers.

Langston was influential. In the 1920's at Lincoln University, a “black” college, all of the professors were white. Langston questioned the practice and began a campus debate on the subject. Two schools of thought emerged. Langston led the group that believed black professors could and should teach black students and the other group, led by Thurgood Marshall, believed that black students should be taught by white professors. The debates on this topic with Langston Hughes changed Thurgood Marshall's attitudes and thinking about race.

Langston kept a very low profile with his neighbors. A livery cab driver brought this point home for me one night, explaining that he grew up in the neighborhood, and found out much later in life that his nice neighbor “Mr. Hughes” had been the famous writer, Langston Hughes.

To a humble, influential genius who celebrated universal qualities of the human experience: “As relevant as you can be, Langston, huge at 102!”

Langston Hughes purchased the building in 1947 and lived and worked on the third floor for the remaining twenty years of his life.

The House was used recently for the filming of a documentary 'Hughes' Dream Harlem' for cable television.

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