Born Feb. 1, 1902, in Joplin, Missouri, James Langston Hughes was a member of an abolitionist family.
Shortly after he was born his parents separated. His mother moved around from city to city searching for work.
Hughes attended Central High School in Cleveland, Ohio, but began writing poetry in the eighth grade, and was selected as Class Poet.
After he graduated from high school he spent a year with his father who had become a successful cattle rancher in Mexico and was able to leave the racism of the north.
After he left his father's ranch to return north, Hughes wrote one of his most famous poems, "The Negro Speaks of Rivers." Hughes also published his first play, "The Golden Piece," in 1921 at the age of 19.
In the early 1920's Hughes entered Columbia University in New York but dropped out to participate in the blues in nearby Harlem. Later he enlisted on a freighter bound for West Africa because he wanted to see the world. He visited Paris and Italy.
When he returned to the States he wrote poems in his spare time and earned a scholarship to Lincoln University in Pennsylvania.
Because of his interest in Marxist ideas in the 1930s, Hughes was called upon to testify before U.S. Sen. Joseph McCarthy's Permanent Subcommittee on investigations in March 1953. He chose not to testify against his friends but only to answer questions about his own political views.
In the 40-odd years between his first book in 1926 and his death in 1967, he devoted his life to writing and lecturing. He wrote 16 books of poems, two novels, three collections of short stories, four volumes of "editorial" and "documentary" fiction, 20 plays, children's poetry, musicals and operas, three autobiographies, a dozen radio and TV scripts and dozens of magazine articles. In addition, he edited seven anthologies.
The long list of Hughes' works includes: "Not Without Laughter" (1930); "The Big Sea" (1940); "I Wonder As I Wander" (1956), his autobiographies. His collections of poetry include: "The Weary Blues" (1926); "The Negro Mother and other Dramatic Recitations" (1931); "The Dream Keeper" (1932); "Shakespeare in Harlem" (1942); "Fields of Wonder" (1947); "One Way Ticket" (1947); "The First Book of Jazz" (1955); "Tambourines to Glory" (1958); and "Selected Poems" (1959); "The Best of Simple" (1961). He edited several anthologies in an attempt to popularize black authors and their works. Some of these are: "An African Treasury" (1960); "Poems from Black Africa" (1963); "New Negro Poets: USA" (1964) and "The Best Short Stories by Negro Writers" (1967).
When Susanna Jones
Wears Red
When Susanna Jones wears red
Her face is like an ancient cameo
Turned brown by the age.
Come with a blast of trumpets,
Jesus!
When Susanna Jones wears red
A queen from some time-dead Egyptian night
Walks once again.
Blow trumpets, Jesus
And the beauty of Susanna Jones in red
Burns in my heart a love-fire sharp like pain.
Sweet silver trumpets,
Jesus!
