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    Langston Hughes: Young Black Poet
    Langston Hughes: Young Black Poet
    Langston Hughes: Young Black Poet
    Ebook131 pages1 hour

    Langston Hughes: Young Black Poet

    By Montrew Dunham and Robert Doremus

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    About this ebook

    Get to know the influential African American poet Langston Hughes in this middle grade nonfiction biography of his early years!

    An engaging biography of American poet, Langston Hughes, written for the elementary aged child. Langston Hughes used his poetry and other writings to reflect the everyday experiences of African Americans, and he was a key figure in the Harlem Renaissance.

    This book is laced with numerous illustrations, and the back of the book includes a timeline, questions, activities, and a glossary, making it the perfect addition to a classroom or home school setting. Perfect for emerging readers, the Childhood of Famous Americans series illustrates the incredible true stories of great Americans.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherAladdin
    Release dateJun 30, 2008
    ISBN9781439114032
    Langston Hughes: Young Black Poet
    Author

    Montrew Dunham

    Montrew Dunham is the author of a number of historical biographies for young readers in the popular Childhood of Famous Americans series. When she isn’t writing, she loves spending time with her family, children, and grandchildren in Illinois and Texas.

    Read more from Montrew Dunham

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    Book preview

    Langston Hughes - Montrew Dunham

    Dear Reader:

    The Childhood of Famous Americans series, seventy years old in 2002, chronicles the early years of famous American men and women in an accessible manner. Each book is faithful in spirit to the values and experiences that influenced the person’s development. History is fleshed out with fictionalized details, and conversations have been added to make the stories come alive to today’s reader, but every reasonable effort has been made to make the stories consistent with the events, ethics, and character of their subjects.

    These books reaffirm the importance of our American heritage. We hope you learn to love the heroes and heroines who helped shape this great country. And by doing so, we hope you also develop a lasting love for the nation that gave them the opportunity to make their dreams come true. It will do the same for you.

    Happy Reading!

    The Editors

    Langston Hughes

    Young Black Poet

    Langston Hughes

    Young Black Poet

    by Montrew Dunham

    Illustrated by Robert Doremus

    ALADDIN PAPERBACKS

    If you purchased this book without a cover you should be aware that this book is stolen property. It was reported as unsold and destroyed to the publisher and neither the author nor the publisher has received any payment for this stripped book.

    First Aladdin Paperbacks edition August 1995

    Copyright © 1972 by the Bobbs-Merrill Company, Inc.

    All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.

    Aladdin Paperbacks

    An imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division

    1230 Avenue of the Americas

    New York, NY 10020

    www.SimonandSchuster.com

    Printed in the United States of America

    10

    Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

    Dunham, Montrew.

    Langston Hughes : young black poet / by Montrew Dunham.—1st Aladdin Paperbacks ed.

    p.   cm.—(Childhood of famous Americans)

    Includes bibliographical references.

    Summary: Focuses on the early years of the well-known poet, Langston Hughes, whose writings reflect the everyday experiences of African Americans.

    ISBN-13: 978-0-689-71787-1

    ISBN-13: 978-0-689-71787-1

    eISBN-13: 978-1-439-11403-2

    ISBN-10: 0-689-71787-3

    1. Hughes, Langston, 1902-1967—Biography—Juvenile literature. 2. Afro-American poets—20th century—Biography—Juvenile literature. [1. Hughes, Langston, 1902-1967—Childhood and youth. 2. Poets, American. 3. Afro-Americans—Biography.] I. Title. II. Series: Childhood of famous Americans series.

    PS3515.U274Z63  1995

    818′.5209—dc20

    [B] 93-21128

    To Albert Howard Goetz

    The author is deeply grateful to the following: Mrs. Dorothy L. Heim, Librarian, Central Junior High School, Cleveland, Ohio; Lester D. Plotner, Superintendent, School District 27, Lincoln, Illinois; Mrs. A. L. Gulup of Lincoln, Illinois; Mrs. Florence Kelley Martin of New Holland, Illinois; Mrs. Roy H. Johnson of Lincoln, Illinois; Jay W. Beswick, Cleveland Public Library; Dot E. Taylor, Kansas State Library; Mrs. Ehlert, Lawrence (Kansas) Free Library; and Mrs. Amy Ogden of the Downers Grove (Illinois) Public Library.

    Quotations from Minstrel Man, The Negro Speaks of Rivers, The Weary Blues, Dreams Dream Variations, and Daybreak in Alabama are reprinted by permission of Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. Those from Evening Air Blues and Troubled Island are reprinted by permission of Harold Ober Associates, Inc. The quotation on page 188 is reprinted from Langston Hughes: A Biography by Milton Meltzer, copyright 1968 by Milton Meltzer, with permission of the publisher, Thomas Y. Crowell Company, Inc.

    Illustrations

    Full pages

    Joey ran along with him.

    She sat with President Roosevelt.

    They all sat down to eat.

    Now get out of here! one said.

    He went to receive his diploma.

    May I serve you? asked a waiter.

    Suddenly his horse reared.

    Big waves rolled across the deck.

    I like your poems, Mr. Lindsay.

    Find the world in your own eyes.

    Numerous smaller illustrations

    Contents

    Lions and Tigers

    To Mexico and Back

    Grandma Langston

    Aunt and Uncle Reed

    Class Poet

    Off to Cleveland

    Working and Learning

    Mexico Again

    High School Graduate

    I’ve Known Rivers

    Writer or Engineer?

    The Weary Blues

    White Man or Black Man?

    Sudden Rise to Fame

    Author, Lecturer, Traveler

    Langston Hughes

    Young Black Poet

    Lions and Tigers

    ONE MORNING in Topeka, Kansas, young Langston Hughes slowly opened his eyes. He stretched his arms and legs and looked around the room, but all he could see were little bands of sunlight around the edges of the window shade. He and his mother lived in a large tenement building in Topeka. Already he could tell from the emptiness of the apartment that his mother had left for her day’s work. She worked as a stenographer for a black attorney in Topeka.

    With a bounce Langston rolled out of bed and pulled on his pants. From the sunlight outside, he felt sure it would be a good day. He ran over and put up a blind. In the foreground he noticed the big shadow of the tenement building. In the distance he could see the gleaming dome of the Kansas State Capitol Building.

    His mother had left bread and milk on the table for his breakfast. As he chewed on a slice of bread, he thought of the household chores which she expected him to do. First, he would have to get a supply of kindling for the stove. He looked over at the black pot-bellied stove at one side of the room. This stove kept their room warm in the wintertime, but now it was used only for cooking.

    He went over behind the stove and got out a gunny sack which he planned to fill with kindling. Then he went out the door, through the hall and down the stairway to the outside. Good morning, Lang, called Mr. Johnson from his plumbing shop on the first floor. Most people in the building called him Lang.

    Hi! answered Langston, poking his head through the door of the shop. He liked the odors that came from the shop.

    Where are you going with that big bag? asked Mr. Johnson. Are you going out again to look for kindling?

    Yes, I’m going down the alley to get kindling for our stove, answered Langston, starting on with the bag.

    Langston loved to go down the back alleys of Topeka. Somehow they seemed more interesting than the streets. On either side there were picket fences loaded with flowers in back of people’s houses. Also there were back walls of small business buildings, broken by back doors and windows. Outside the back doors there were piles of various kinds of trash which the businesses had discarded.

    Langston went from trash pile to trash pile and picked up small pieces of wood and thick cardboard from discarded boxes. He put them carefully into the big bag and pushed them down tightly. Soon he had the bag filled.

    Suddenly he noticed a huge crate at one of the back doors. He crawled into the crate and imagined it was somewhat like a cave. As he rested inside, he imagined how much fun it would be to live in a cave.

    While he was resting in the crate, he noticed some ants scurrying through the sand in a low spot in the alley. The ants marched along steadily in a neat tiny row, one after another. They were headed for a small sand mound near one corner of the crate.

    Langston crawled out of the crate and squatted down to watch the ants better. Soon he picked up a stick and shoved a little pile of dirt into their path. Then much to his astonishment, he noted that

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