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From 1920 to 1930 the
Harlem Renaissance took place. It was a time when many African
-Americans produced creative works of art such as paintings
and poems. Through these genres, African Americans were
able to express their culture and heritage in very creative
ways. The Harlem Renaissance resulted from the migration
of African-Americans to the North from 1919 to 1926 along
with the rise of distinguished black intellectuals such
as Marcus Garvey, founder of the Universal Negro Improvement
Association (UNIA) and editor of The Crisis magazine W.E.B.
Du Bois.
Langston Hughes was an eminent Harlem Renaissance poet.
He was born in Joplin, Missouri and later moved to Lincoln,
Illinois at age thirteen where he began to write his poetry.
Hughes had unique jobs while in Mexico and at Columbia University
such as assistant cook, launderer, bus boy, and seaman traveling
to Africa and Europe. Langston moved to Washington, D.C.
in 1924 The Weary Blues, his first book of poetry was published
two years afterwards. Hughes is renown for his portrayals
of the lives of black people from the twenties to the sixties.
In contrast to other Harlem Renaissance poets, Langston
boldly refused to separate his experiences from that of
many others. He was in addition to being a poet, a novelist
and a playwright. It is also known that his passion for
jazz had an influence on his writings in Montage of a Dream
Deferred. He died May 22, 1967 from prostate cancer and
he will also be acknowledged as a great poet. His old residence
on 127th Street is now a monument, and a section of the
area was named “Langston Hughes Place”.
Maya Angelou is a well-known
poet of this time. She too is a native of Missouri but was
born April 4, 1928 in the city of St. Louis. This intellectual
is also an author, historian, civil rights activist, playwright,
dancer, copyright, director, performer, and singer. Following
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s advice, she became the
northern coordinator for the Southern Christian Leadership
Conference. Angelou was associate editor of The Arab Observer
from 1961 to 1962. In 1964, Angelou became feature editor
of the African Review and seventeen years later she became
Reynolds Professor of American Studies. This job would last
her for a lifetime. Angelou is also the first black female
director in Hollywood, she wrote the original screenplay
and musical score for the film Georgia in 1971. Additionally,
she has written several prize-winning documentaries such
as Afro-Americans in Arts and was nominated for two Tony
awards in her Broadway debut Look Away (1973) and her performance
in Roots (1977).
Both Maya Angelou and Langston Hughes have much in common.
Both intellectuals deeply dive into the subject of the discrimination
that Blacks nationally face in the United States and even
internationally with Hughes using poetry and Angelou taking
it a step further, by becoming a civil rights activist.
The two of them are not only poets but have produced many
creative works with such examples as Why Does the Caged
Bird Sing? (Maya Angelou) and Don’t You Want to Be
Free? (Langston Hughes). Their love of music has also helped
their careers with Hughes’ poetry being influenced
by jazz and Angelou being a performer of arts.
Whether part of the Harlem Renaissance or in modern time,
many renown and talented Black poets have risen to the surface.
Langston Hughes and Maya Angelou are both well known for
their extensive works of art. Their creativity and use of
certain subjects made them very famous. In time, more poets
will be born, and they will continue the legacy just as
Hughes, Angelou and other gifted individuals have.
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