James Mercer Langston Hughes was a brilliant man and is best known for his playwrights, poems, and others. One story that stands out more than the others is “Salvation”, which is about a 13-year-old Langston Hughes and his day at church. The church was having a revival and Hughes’s aunt wanted him to attend. Many people told him about the same experience they have seen like seeing the light and feeling “something new inside of you”. All the children went up as the pastor called for them except Langston and Westley. After a while, Westley, Langston’s friend, went up because he was tired of sitting on the bench listening to the members. Westley did not care. Hughes was the last and didn’t seem to have an experience or feeling and was waiting for something to happen. He then decided to get up and walk to the front not seeing or feeling different. Later that night his aunt and uncle heard him crying as he was afraid to tell his aunt that he was lying about getting saved and that he didn’t believe in Jesus anymore. Hughes had lost faith in religion because the experience everyone was talking about he never encountered and Jesus never came to his side that night (Hughes).

        Young Langston Hughes had a very different childhood than any other colored boy. He was born in Joplin, Missouri on February 1, 1902. He lived with his parents, James and Mary Hughes, until he was about 5 years old.  His parents then left him with his grandmother and family friends and occasionally they came back into his life. His mother had enrolled him in a white school near his grandparents’ house but was discriminated along with a couple other colored students (Rummel 12). During Hughes’ lifetime and a child he felt alone and separated from everyone else as he lived in a white neighborhood (Rummel 12). At the age of 12, he was then living with his auntie reed and he talks about this event in his poem “salvation” as he had a life changing the experience. From that point on, Hughes began to become more independent and was elected class poet (“Langston Hughes”).

        When Hughes went into high school he began writing more poems, stories, and plays; along with writing for the school newspaper and yearbook editing. After high school he wanted to go to college but unfortunately he could not due to his financials; and so that is when he turned to his father. he and his father were never close and so when his dad decided to move to Mexico again Hughes went right along with him. James Hughes did not see into his son’s dreams as he would not pay for college if he was going to be a poet. Instead, his father suggested a plan for Hughes in which he would work for a year and then go to college for engineering then work the rest of his life in Mexico and make good money. Hughes was tired of being manipulated and went on to become an English teacher and giving lessons at a college for business (Rummel 6). After concluding his teaching and lesson he still did not have enough money to save up to go to Columbia he sent in three of his poems to a magazine and one of the was published making that his first poem ever to be published. After contemplating his father’s plan Hughes decided to go to Columbia under his dad's wishes. After a semester he told his dad that he was not going to class and his father stopped paying.

        Hughes was a very smart man and after his time at Columbia, he decided to travel to other countries. He traveled to Spain and Russia to seek more stories and free thought. Later on, during through the 1940s and the early 1960s, the astonishing poet made musicals and taught at the Atlanta university and was a guest lecturer at the university of Chicago for several months (“Langston Hughes Biography”). In the 1950s and 60s Hughes publishes several other works in his “simple” series and well as his second autobiography, I wonder as I wander (“Langston Hughes biography”).

        In 1967 on May 22 in New York Hughes died from complications from prostate cancer (“Langston Hughes Biography”). Many people attended his funeral as they burned his ashes. On his inscription at the Arthur Schomburg center for research in black culture in Harlem their lies a line from one of his poems, the negro speaks of rivers, which reads “my soul has grown deep like the rivers”. Ever since his day at the church when he was 12 years old, Hughes had become more independent than any young boy could ever be.

        When you hear the Harlem renaissance you think of Langston Hughes and his impact he had on the world. Hughes had a very unstable life from traveling to schools to personal problems. Langston Hughes never had an “easy” life. He had to deal with discrimination and loneliness from having his parents in and out of his life. As Hughes got older he began to get more involved in poetry and short stories. According to Rummel and Wegner in the Langston Hughes: Poet on page 2, his first poem was published by The Brownies’ Book. His career then took off from there as he wrote several other stories and poems about African Americans and his own personal experiences.

        In his life, he has experienced countless times of discrimination. Langston was self-motivated because of his experiences. “Salvation” can be considered one of his defining moments in his life because that night he sought to be independent. It persuaded him into achieving his goals and not be brought down by others and their words. It all started on that day in the church as he talks about in “salvation”.

 

Work cited

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Best, Wallace. "Religion and Politics Fit for Polite Company." Religion and Politics. 26 Nov. 2013. Web. 29 Nov 2016. <http://religionandpolitics.org/2013/11/26/concerning-goodbye-christ-langston-hughes-political-poetry-and-african-american-religion/>.

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Hughes, Langston. " The Center for Fiction." Salvation by Langston Hughes. Matthew Sharpe, n.d. Web. 29 Nov. 2016. <http://centerforfiction.org/forwriters/the-model-short-story/quotsalvationquot-by-langston-hughes/>.

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"Langston Hughes." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 20 Nov. 2016. Web. 30 Nov. 2016. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Langston_Hughes>.

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"Langston Hughes Biography." Biography.com. A&E Networks Television, 27 Jan. 2015. Web. 01 Dec. 2016. <http://www.biography.com/people/langston-hughes-9346313#related-video-gallery>.

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"Langston Hughes Timeline." Langston Hughes Timeline. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Nov. 2016. <http://www.datesandevents.org/people-timelines/23-langston-hughes-timeline.htm>.

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Rummel, Jack, and Heather Lehr. Wagner. Langston Hughes: Poet. Philadelphia: Chelsea House, 2005. Print.