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grid-layout--adrail narrow wi-adrail"><div class="GridItem-buujkM stRKV grid--em grid-layout__ntent"><div class="BodyWrapper-kufPGa bDyAMU body body__ntaer article__body" data-journey-hook="client-ntent" data-ttid="BodyWrapper"><div class="body__ner-ntaer"><div class="GenericCalloutWrapper-tojWn iHBnEl llout--has-top-borr set-embedd-le" data-ttid="GenericCallout"><figure class="AssetEmbedWrapper-eVDQiB byBkf asset-embed"><div class="AssetEmbedAssetContaer-eJxoAx dBHGoQ asset-embed__asset-ntaer"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kGxnNB rponsive-asset AssetEmbedRponsiveAsset-cXBNxi eCxVQK asset-embed__rponsive-asset"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO KhjZz AssetEmbedRponsiveAsset-cXBNxi eCxVQK asset-embed__rponsive-asset rponsive-image rponsive-image--expandable"><noscript><img alt="Photograph of a man ont of a vibrant red background" class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src=" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w, 960w, 1280w, 1600w, 1920w, 2240w" siz="100vw"/></noscript></picture></span></div><div class="CaptnWrapper-jSZdqE iTuhkZ ptn AssetEmbedCaptn-fNQBPI fmQnYP asset-embed__ptn"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ CaptnText-bHjzlu iUEiRd hWyo iXWezO ptn__text">Langston Hugh’s genial, genero, and guard persona was self-protective.</span><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ CaptnCred-ejegDm iUEiRd iicloT jbIJNS ptn__cred">Photograph by Carl Van Vechten / Carl Van Vechten Tst / Beecke Library, Yale</span></div></figure></div><p class="has-dropp has-dropp__lead-standard-headg">By the time the Brish artist Isaac Julien’s inic short say-film “Lookg for Langston” was released, 1989, Julien’s ostensible subject, the enigmatic poet and race man Langston Hugh, had been ad for twenty-two years, but the search for his “real” story was still ongog. There was a sense—particularly among gay men of lor, like Julien, who had so few “out” anctors and wanted to claim the prolific, uneven, but signifint wrer as one of their own—that some sential thgs about Hugh had been obscured or disfigured his work and his memoirs. Born Jopl, Missouri, 1902, and transplanted to New York Cy as a strikgly handsome neteen-year-old, Hugh beme, wh the publitn of his first book of poems, “The Weary Blu” (1926), a proment New Negro: morn, pluralistic his beliefs, and a member of what the folklorist and novelist Zora Neale Hurston lled “the niggerati,” a loosely formed alliance of black wrers and tellectuals that clud Hurston, the thor and diplomat Jam Weldon Johnson, the openly gay poet and artist Richard Bce Nugent, and the novelists Nella Larsen, Jsie Fset, and Wallace Thurman (whose 1929 novel about lor fixatn among blacks, “The Blacker the Berry,” nveys some of the energy of the time).</p><p class="paywall">In a 1926 say for <em>The Natn</em>, “The Negro Artist and the Racial Mounta,” Hugh scribed the group, which me together durg the Harlem Renaissance, when hangg out uptown was nsired a lson ol:</p><blockquote class="BlockquoteEmbedWrapper-sc-SdiGL jPeLne paywall blockquote-embed"><div class="BlockquoteEmbedContent-RbGs gmbtPx blockquote-embed__ntent"><p>We younger Negro artists who create now tend to exprs our dividual dark-skned selv whout fear or shame. If whe people are pleased, we are glad. If they are not, don’t matter. We know we are betiful. And ugly too. The tom-tom cri and the tom-tom lghs. If lored people are pleased we are. If they are not, their displeasure don’t matter eher. We build our templ for tomorrow, strong as we know how, and we stand on top of the mounta, ee wh ourselv.</p></div></blockquote><p class="paywall">And yet, his personal life, Hugh did not stand on top of the mounta, proclaimg who he was or what he thought. One of the archects of black polil rrectns, he saw as threateng any attempt to expose black difference or weakns ont of a whe dience. In his approach to the work of other black artists, particular, he was excsively clive, enthiastic to the pot of self-effacement, as if black creativy were a great wave that would wash away the psychic srs of discrimatn. Hugh was unfortable when younger black wrers, such as Jam Baldw and Ralph Ellison (whom Hugh mentored om the day after he arrived Harlem, 1936, until was no longer nvenient for Ellison to be associated wh the ls reful craftsman), cricized other black wrers. Hugh’s reluctance to reveal the cracks the black world—which is to say, his own world—curtailed not only what he was able to achieve as an artist but what he was able to exprs as a man.</p><p class="paywall">Instead of g to grips wh himself and his potential, he veloped what he nsired to be a palatable or marketable public persona. There he is, sg, humble, dtr, and hidn, Arnold Rampersad’s two-volume bgraphy, “The Life of Langston Hugh” (1986 and 1988), not to mentn such important recent works about the perd as Carla Kaplan’s “Miss Anne Harlem” and Farah Jasme Griff’s “Harlem Nocturne” (both 2013). Even much of his own rrponnce— the recently published “The Selected Letters of Langston Hugh,” eded by Rampersad and David Rosel, wh Christa Fratantoro—one sens that Hugh is performg a versn of himself that he feels is socially acceptable. (While “The Selected Letters” is a good place to start fdg out about Hugh and his world, one se more of his nghts and sense of play some of the narrower llectns, cludg “Remember Me to Harlem: The Letters of Langston Hugh and Carl Van Vechten,” which was eded wh verve and sight by Ey Bernard.) The Hugh persona also appears his most celebrated vers, which marry down-home Southern locutns wh urban rhythms. From “The Weary Blu”:</p><blockquote class="BlockquoteEmbedWrapper-sc-SdiGL jPeLne paywall blockquote-embed"><div class="BlockquoteEmbedContent-RbGs gmbtPx blockquote-embed__ntent"><p>I heard a Negro play.</p><p>Down on Lenox Avenue the other night</p><p>By the pale dull pallor of an old gas light</p><p>He did a lazy sway. . . .</p><p>He did a lazy sway. . . .</p><p>To the tune o’ those Weary Blu.</p><p>Wh his ebony hands on each ivory key</p><p>He ma that poor piano moan wh melody. . . .</p><p>In a ep song voice wh a melancholy tone</p><p>I heard that Negro sg, that old piano moan—</p><p>“A’t got nobody all this world,</p><p>A’t got nobody but ma self.</p><p>I’s gwe to qu ma own’</p><p>And put ma troubl on the shelf.”</p></div></blockquote><p class="paywall">Wrg about Hugh’s “Selected Poems” the <em>Tim</em> 1959, Baldw—who chastised his elr for rcg blackns to a kd of pleasant Negro simplicy—began wh a bang:</p><blockquote class="BlockquoteEmbedWrapper-sc-SdiGL jPeLne paywall blockquote-embed"><div class="BlockquoteEmbedContent-RbGs gmbtPx blockquote-embed__ntent"><p>Every time I read Langston Hugh I am amazed all over aga by his genue gifts—and prsed that he has done so ltle wh them. . . . Hugh, his sermons, blu and prayers, has workg for him the power and the beat of Negro speech and Negro mic. Negro speech is vivid largely bee is private. It is a kd of emotnal shorthand—or sleight of hand—by means of which Negro exprs not only their relatnship to each other but their judgment of the whe world. . . . Hugh knows the bter tth behd the hieroglyphics: what they are signed to protect, what they are signed to nvey. But he has not forced them to the realm of art, where their meang would bee clear and overwhelmg.</p></div></blockquote><div><div class="ConsumerMarketgUnThemedWrapper-iUTMTf jssHut nsumer-marketg-un nsumer-marketg-un--article-mid-ntent" role="prentatn" aria-hidn="te"><div class="nsumer-marketg-un__slot nsumer-marketg-un__slot--article-mid-ntent nsumer-marketg-un__slot---ntent"></div><div class="journey-un"></div></div></div><p class="paywall">Possibly, Baldw—the thor of the landmark gay love story “Gvanni’s Room”—was upset ls by Hugh’s failur as a poet than by his refal to reveal the tth behd his own hieroglyphics: his sexualy, which appears only glimps his work. (And the work of others, cludg Richard Bce Nugent’s 1926 story “Smoke, Lili, and Ja,” which Hugh published <em>Fire!!</em>, a lerary magaze that Wallace Thurman eded, and which a young man walkg Harlem bumps to “Langston,” who’s the pany of a strikg boy.) Thurman, exprsg his tratn at how ltle he knew about Hugh’s private self, wrote to him once, “You are the fal analysis the most nsarned and diabolil creature, to say nothg of beg eher the most egregly simple or excsively plex person I know.” Even Rampersad’s bgraphy, which is as rich a study of a life as one uld wish for, was cricized by gay rears for s emphatic I-don’t-know-anythg-specific-about-his-romantic-life pronouncements. In Rampersad’s work, Hugh emerg as a nstantly strivg, almost asexual enty—which is pretty much the image that Hugh himself put forth.</p><div data-attr-viewport-monor="le-recirc" class="le-recirc-wrapper le-recirc-observer-target-1 viewport-monor-anchor"></div><p class="paywall">Readg Hugh’s work, one is remd of the l by the black poet Pl Lrence Dunbar, one of Hugh’s early enthiasms:</p><blockquote class="BlockquoteEmbedWrapper-sc-SdiGL jPeLne paywall blockquote-embed"><div class="BlockquoteEmbedContent-RbGs gmbtPx blockquote-embed__ntent"><p>We wear the mask that grs and li,</p><p>It his our cheeks and shas our ey,—</p><p>This bt we pay to human guile;</p><p>Wh torn and bleedg hearts we se,</p><p>And mouth wh myriad subtleti.</p></div></blockquote></div></div></div><div class="GridItem-buujkM fVLMby grid--em grid-layout__asi"><asi class="PersistentAsiWrapper-VGrR daRVRt persistent-asi" style="posn:absolute;top:to;height:to" data-ttid="PersistentAsiWrapper"><div class="StickyBoxWrapper-jfYB jxBcTH sticky-box"><div class="StickyBoxPrimary-dzWDWL cdhYoN sticky-box__primary"><div class="AdWrapper-dQtivb fZrssQ ad ad--rail"><div class="ad__slot ad__slot--rail" data-no-id="n460sx"></div></div><div class="ConsumerMarketgUnThemedWrapper-iUTMTf jssHut nsumer-marketg-un nsumer-marketg-un--display-rail" role="prentatn" aria-hidn="te"><div class="nsumer-marketg-un__slot nsumer-marketg-un__slot--display-rail"></div><div class="journey-un"></div></div></div><div class="StickyBoxPlaceholr-grPmrg dxAvXx"></div></div></asi></div></div><div class="RowWrapper-UmqTg HEhan full-bleed-ad row-mid-ntent-ad"><div class="StickyMidContentAdWrapper-fSBzwl drzyIa ad-stickymidntent"><div class="AdWrapper-dQtivb fZrssQ ad ad--mid-ntent should-hold-space"><div class="ad__slot ad__slot--mid-ntent" data-no-id="l9y9i"></div></div></div></div><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK kHBDeH grid grid-margs grid-ems-2 ArticlePageChunksGrid-hfxa bjczjj grid-layout--adrail narrow wi-adrail"><div class="GridItem-buujkM stRKV grid--em grid-layout__ntent"><div class="BodyWrapper-kufPGa bDyAMU body body__ntaer article__body" data-journey-hook="client-ntent" data-ttid="BodyWrapper"><div class="body__ner-ntaer"><p class="paywall">That mask was what kept Hugh om cludg such works as “Café: 3 <em class="small">A.M.</em>” his “Selected Poems,” which he eded:</p><blockquote class="BlockquoteEmbedWrapper-sc-SdiGL jPeLne paywall blockquote-embed"><div class="BlockquoteEmbedContent-RbGs gmbtPx blockquote-embed__ntent"><p>Detectiv om the vice squad</p><p>wh weary sadistic ey</p><p>spottg fairi.</p><p><em>Degenerat</em>,</p><p>some folks say.</p><p></p><p>But God, Nature,</p><p>or somebody</p><p>ma them that way.</p><p></p><p>Police lady or Lbian</p><p>over there?</p><p><em>Where?</em></p></div></blockquote><p class="paywall">And where was Langston? His tight-lippedns when me to his own “generate” behavr kept him om intifyg such people as “F.S.,” the ditee of another poem (who may have been Ferdand Smh, a Jamain merchant seaman Hugh met Harlem) that appeared “The Weary Blu”:</p><blockquote class="BlockquoteEmbedWrapper-sc-SdiGL jPeLne paywall blockquote-embed"><div class="BlockquoteEmbedContent-RbGs gmbtPx blockquote-embed__ntent"><p>I loved my iend.</p><p>He went away om me.</p><p>There is nothg more to say.</p><p>The poem ends,</p><p>Soft as began—</p><p>I loved my iend.</p></div></blockquote><p class="paywall">Hugh’s genial, genero, and guard persona was self-protective, certaly. It’s important to remember that he me of age an era durg which gay men—and blacks—were physilly and mentally abed for beg what they were. (He was self-prervg other areas of his life as well. To protect his reer, he ttified at the Hoe Un-Amerin Activi Commtee proceedgs, which st him his iendships wh W.E.B. Du Bois and Pl Robon.) Hugh’s mask was likely also a bulwark agast his personal history, which he rarely discsed, even his elive tobgraphi, “The Big Sea” (1940) and “I Wonr as I Wanr” (1956), one of the most apt tl ever penned by Hugh: his memoir is ltered wh short sojourns and partgs, a pattern he learned a home where the lghter was often risive and love was a form of huiatn.</p><p class="has-dropp has-dropp__lead-standard-headg paywall">Hugh’s mother, the impulsive and vibrant Carrie Langston, was born Lawrence, Kansas, 1873, of Ain, Native Amerin, and French anctry. Her father, Charl Langston, an enterprisg farmer and grocer, was also a fierce abolnist, whose youngt brother, John Mercer Langston, beme a proment figure neteenth-century black Ameri—a profsor of law, a an, and then the actg print of Howard Universy. As a girl, Carrie Langston was known as “the Belle of Black Lawrence.” Hungry for attentn, she aspired to a reer on the stage, but her dreams were stymied by prejudice and by the lims of a neteenth-century woman’s life. Wh few real optns open to her, she pleted a urse elementary-school tn, and 1898, already love wh travel, moved to Guthrie, the Oklahoma Terrory, some ten om Langston, a town named for her famo uncle. There the light-skned Carrie met and married Jam Nathaniel Hugh, a handsome, hardworkg man of lor, wh Ain, Native Amerin, French, and Jewish blood. (His grandfathers were both slave trars.) But there was a ccial difference between the newlyweds: whereas Carrie had been brought up to be proud of her race, the lor-stck Jam spised blackns, which he equated wh poverty and powerlsns.</p><div class="Contaer-bkChBi byNLHx"></div><p class="paywall">In 1899, the young, amb uple moved to Jopl, where Carrie gave birth to Langston 1902. (Their first child, a boy, born 1900, died fancy.) A year later, when Jam secured a posn Mexi Cy, where he felt that he stood a better chance of succs, Carrie dropped Langston off at her mother’s, and followed him south. The uple bickered, renciled, parted, sometim wh Langston tow, often not; for the most part, the boy was reared by his judic but lovg grandmother, Mary. By 1907, they had separated permanently.</p><p class="paywall">There’s nothg like fay to remd you of life’s sential lonels. As a boy, Hugh absorbed his mother’s bterns about her marriage and her thwarted reer, as well as his father’s anxiety and ranr over racism Ameri and what he prumed to be s e: blacks themselv. (Hugh relled a tra journey through Arkansas, durg which his father, seeg some blacks at work a tton field, sneered, “Look at the niggers.”) Carrie never hated to tell her son that he rembled his father—“that vil”—and that he was as “evil as Jim Hugh.” His grandmother, angry about segregatn—as a black person, she uldn’t jo the church of her choice—forba her grandson to go out after school: Why risk gradatn <em>their</em> sty?</p><p class="paywall">Hugh grew up an atmosphere of hatred and small-mdns. While he was elementary school, a whe teacher warned one of Hugh’s whe classmat agast eatg lirice, for fear that he would end up lookg like Langston. A bright, genial boy, Hugh also suffered for his talents. From his poem “Geni Child”:</p><blockquote class="BlockquoteEmbedWrapper-sc-SdiGL jPeLne paywall blockquote-embed"><div class="BlockquoteEmbedContent-RbGs gmbtPx blockquote-embed__ntent"><p><em>Nobody lov a geni child.</em></p><p></p><p>Can you love an eagle,</p><p>Tame or wild?</p><p>Can you love an eagle,</p><p>Wild or tame?</p><p>Can you love a monster</p><p>Of ighteng name?</p><p></p><p><em>Nobody lov a geni child.</em></p><p><em>Kill him</em>—and let his soul n wild.</p></div></blockquote><p class="paywall">Still, there was solace. There were books by W. E. B. Du Bois, and the formaly and strange wisdom of the Bible. (Hugh read wily and eply the black and whe Amerin nons. And, throughout his reer, he excedly read the wrers of lor who were published Europe, the Caribbean, and Ai, cludg René Maran, Graziella Garbalosa, and Richard Rive.) There was black pri, too. In 1910, Mary and her grandson went to Osawatomie, Kansas, where former Print Theodore Roosevelt honored her first hband, Lewis Sheridan Leary, who had died durg the 1859 raid on Harpers Ferry.</p><div data-attr-viewport-monor="le-recirc" class="le-recirc-wrapper le-recirc-observer-target-2 viewport-monor-anchor"></div><p class="paywall">Mary herself died 1915, and the thirteen-year-old Hugh soon left Kansas for Lln, Illois, where his mother now lived wh her send hband, Homer Clark, a sometime “chef ok,” and his son. In Lln, a teacher asked Hugh’s eighth-gra class to appot a class poet who unrstood rhythm. Hugh’s fellow-stunts unanimoly nomated Hugh, the only black boy the class. Hugh wrote his first poem for the class graduatn, and was so imprsed by the applse he received that he wonred whether he had found his votn. As Homer sought better reer opportuni that never seemed to materialize, Hugh followed his mother and her new fay to Cleveland, where he began ntributg poems and stori to his high-school magaze. When his mother and his stepfather moved on aga, to Chigo, Hugh stayed behd to fish high school, which he did 1920. Although he was pretty much on his own om then on, his parents exercised a pull over him for as long as they lived. (“My Dear Boy: Carrie Hugh’s Letters to Langston Hugh, 1926-1938,” eded by Carmaletta M. Williams and John Edgar Tidwell, is valuable ttimony to Carrie’s never-endg attempts to manipulate her son.)</p><p class="paywall">Open to Hugh was the great wi world, the adventure of travel, and those wrers—Carl Sandburg, Walt Whman—who not only eed the young wrer om tradnal lerary forms but showed him that he uld sg his Ameri, too. In 1921, he moved to New York to study at Columbia Universy, but what he fell love wh was the “Negro cy”: Harlem. (He eventually dropped out of Columbia, and graduated om Lln Universy, Pennsylvania, 1929.) Before g to New York, he had spent more than a year patriarchal purgatory Mexi; now he was “hungry” to be wh <em>his</em> people. Exg the subway at 135th Street, he said, “I stood there, dropped my bags, took a ep breath and felt happy aga.”</p><p class="has-dropp has-dropp__lead-standard-headg paywall">Harlem the twenti offered up a cultural richns that ma everythg seem possible. Jervis Anrson, wrg this magaze 1981, noted, “Harlem has never been more high-spired and engagg than was durg the neteen-twenti. Blacks om all over Ameri and the Caribbean were pourg , revivg the migratn that had abated toward the end of the war—word havg reached them about the ‘cy,’ the heart of Manhattan, that blacks were makg their own.” The headquarters for Du Bois’s magaze <em>Crisis</em>, to which Hugh had been ntributg om Mexi, was there; so was <em>Msenger</em>, -eded by the activist A. Philip Randolph. Soon Hugh found a new source of the kd of support that his grandmother had given him as a boy: a wealthy whe woman named Charlotte Osgood Mason, who provid Hugh and other black artists, cludg Hurston, wh fancial backg, as long as they promoted blackns. (Dpe the awkwardns of the arrangement, Hugh remaed loyal to Mason—“I want to be your spir child forever,” he wrote to her—and when he ceased to be a favore, 1930, he was vastated. That pa shows his forced 1933 short story “Slave on the Block,” which he clud his passnate but ill-nsired llectn “The Ways of Whe Folks,” the followg year.)</p><p class="paywall">The charmg Hugh also managed to melt the heart of the glacial Du Bois, who had lost a son, and unted Jsie Fset, an edor at <em>Crisis</em>, and the poet Countee Cullen as champns of a sort. In 1923, Cullen troduced Hugh to Ala Locke, a gay Harvard-ted thker, who published the fluential anthology “The New Negro” 1925. As one n tu om “The Selected Letters,” the two embarked on a kd of t-and-moe game: Hugh need Locke’s patronage, and, sensg the olr man’s attractn to him, kept him at arm’s length to crease the mystery. Soon Hugh was a cizen of a bright black world that clud Pl Robon, who, 1924, would star downtown Eugene O’Neill’s “The Emperor Jon.” Puttg his ear to the ncrete, he heard poems like “Athete Harlem,” which bed, wh a short, tense form, the sound of the lghg and cryg tom-tom he scribed his 1926 <em>Natn</em> say:</p><blockquote class="BlockquoteEmbedWrapper-sc-SdiGL jPeLne paywall blockquote-embed"><div class="BlockquoteEmbedContent-RbGs gmbtPx blockquote-embed__ntent"><p>Strange,</p><p>That this nigger place</p><p>I should meet life face to face;</p><p>When, for years, I had been seekg</p><p>Life plac gentler speakg—</p><p>Before I me to this vile street</p><p>And found Life—steppg on my feet!</p></div></blockquote><p class="paywall">The poem, like many of Hugh’s early lyrics, is both tertg and unspirg. We admire him for the pre-spoken-word nc and the energy of the enterprise, but whout ever knowg who his “I” is we have no anchor the poem. The unground first-person voice allows Hugh to be humany, but not a specific human.</p><p class="paywall">Once the Deprsn put an end to all the champagne and sexy miscegenatn of the Harlem Renaissance, the “niggerati” sttered to other gigs, some other untri. Hugh travelled Rsia durg the thirti, fdg Communism, at least for a time, the polil hope that was missg his own untry, but he always returned to Harlem, even as the neighborhood suffered through race rts and the dg and civic wars of the fifti and sixti. It was his home until he died, 1967—his ash are now entombed the lobby of the Langston Hugh Audorium at the Schomburg Center for Rearch Black Culture, Harlem—visible evince of all that Hugh’s father spised and he embraced, what may very well have been the most unrolvable relatnship of his life.</p><p class="paywall">In 1961, twenty-seven years after Jam Hugh died, his son wrote a brief, tense tale lled “Blsed Assurance.” Published posthumoly, begs:</p><blockquote class="BlockquoteEmbedWrapper-sc-SdiGL jPeLne paywall blockquote-embed"><div class="BlockquoteEmbedContent-RbGs gmbtPx blockquote-embed__ntent"><p>Unfortunately (and to John’s distst of God) seemed his son was turng out to be a queer. He was a brilliant queer, on the Honor Roll high school, and likely to be graduated the sprg at the head of the class. But the boy was lored. Sce lored parents always like to put their bt foot forward, John was more disturbed about his son’s transn than if they had been whe. Negro have enough cross to bear.</p></div></blockquote><p class="paywall">When the boy sgs a solo the church choir and his voice soars, a male anist fats, and the boy’s father pleads for him to shut up. But the song go on. What is natural to John’s son is the mic, a world of sound which he n both hi behd and expose himself through.</p></div></div></div><div class="GridItem-buujkM fVLMby grid--em grid-layout__asi"><div class="StickyBoxWrapper-jfYB jxBcTH sticky-box"><div class="StickyBoxPrimary-dzWDWL cdhYoN sticky-box__primary"></div><div class="StickyBoxPlaceholr-grPmrg dxAvXx"></div></div></div></div><div class="RowWrapper-UmqTg HEhan full-bleed-ad row-mid-ntent-ad"><div class="StickyMidContentAdWrapper-fSBzwl drzyIa ad-stickymidntent"><div class="AdWrapper-dQtivb fZrssQ ad ad--mid-ntent should-hold-space"><div class="ad__slot ad__slot--mid-ntent" data-no-id="8mhlg9"></div></div></div></div><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK kHBDeH grid grid-margs grid-ems-2 ArticlePageChunksGrid-hfxa bjczjj grid-layout--adrail narrow wi-adrail"><div class="GridItem-buujkM stRKV grid--em grid-layout__ntent"><div class="BodyWrapper-kufPGa bDyAMU body body__ntaer article__body" data-journey-hook="client-ntent" data-ttid="BodyWrapper"><div class="body__ner-ntaer"><p class="paywall">In the fal years of his life, Hugh did seem to see the ti turng. His last, and bt, llectn of poems, “The Panther and the Lash” (1967), reflects, wh a haiku-like flatns and lift, a Vietnam-era world that was changg and need to change. His poem “Corner Meetg”:</p><blockquote class="BlockquoteEmbedWrapper-sc-SdiGL jPeLne paywall blockquote-embed"><div class="BlockquoteEmbedContent-RbGs gmbtPx blockquote-embed__ntent"><p>Ladr, flag, and amplifier<br/>now are what the soapbox ed to be.</p></div></blockquote><blockquote class="BlockquoteEmbedWrapper-sc-SdiGL jPeLne paywall blockquote-embed"><div class="BlockquoteEmbedContent-RbGs gmbtPx blockquote-embed__ntent"><p>The speaker tch fire,<br/>Lookg at listeners’ fac.</p></div></blockquote><blockquote class="BlockquoteEmbedWrapper-sc-SdiGL jPeLne paywall blockquote-embed"><div class="BlockquoteEmbedContent-RbGs gmbtPx blockquote-embed__ntent"><p>His words jump down<br/>to stand<br/> their<br/>plac.</p></div></blockquote><p class="paywall">Here Hugh wr wh the force of a good journalist; he is no longer an abstract Negro everyman but a reporter weighg on the heat and nfn of the time, whout too much self-nsc hipster jive.</p><div data-attr-viewport-monor="le-recirc" class="le-recirc-wrapper le-recirc-observer-target-3 viewport-monor-anchor"></div><p class="paywall">The novelist Ple Marshall rells, her 2009 memoir, “Triangular Road,” a 1965 ernment-sponsored tour of Europe on which she acpanied Hugh. It was durg the heady days of the civil-rights movement. In Paris, a cy that Hugh loved—“There you n be whatever you want to be. Totally yourself,” he said—Marshall noticed that when the subject of the movement me up Hugh let others do the talkg. He knew what his own stggl had been, and he knew that the prent stggle would lead to if not a different day then a different kd of day, one which erasg l om one’s own story might make ls sense than jt sayg them. ♦</p></div></div></div><div class="GridItem-buujkM fVLMby grid--em grid-layout__asi"><div class="StickyBoxWrapper-jfYB jxBcTH sticky-box"><div class="StickyBoxPrimary-dzWDWL cdhYoN sticky-box__primary"><div class="AdWrapper-dQtivb fZrssQ ad ad--rail"><div class="ad__slot ad__slot--rail" data-no-id="3bm58"></div></div><div class="ConsumerMarketgUnThemedWrapper-iUTMTf jssHut nsumer-marketg-un nsumer-marketg-un--display-rail" role="prentatn" aria-hidn="te"><div class="nsumer-marketg-un__slot nsumer-marketg-un__slot--display-rail"></div><div class="journey-un"></div></div></div><div class="StickyBoxPlaceholr-grPmrg dxAvXx"></div></div></div></div></div><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK kHBDeH grid grid-margs grid-ems-2 PaywallInleBarrierWhWrapperGrid-fyrGfS kLQIUk grid-layout--adrail narrow wi-adrail"><div class="GridItem-buujkM stRKV grid--em grid-layout__ntent"><div class="body body__le-barrier article__body"><div class="ntaer ntaer--body"><div class="ntaer--body-ner"><asi class="PaywallInleBarrierWrapper-iBnuqk lfXXa-D" data-ttid="PaywallInleBarrierWrapper"><div class="ConsumerMarketgUnThemedWrapper-iUTMTf jssHut nsumer-marketg-un nsumer-marketg-un--paywall-le-barrier" role="prentatn" aria-live="pole" aria-hidn="te"><div class="nsumer-marketg-un__slot nsumer-marketg-un__slot--paywall-le-barrier"></div><div class="journey-un"></div></div></asi></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK kHBDeH grid grid-margs grid-ems-2 ContentWrapperGrid-fvkmBv brYtrA grid-layout--adrail narrow wi-adrail"><div class="GridItem-buujkM stRKV grid--em grid-layout__ntent"><div class="body body__ntaer"><div class="ntaer ntaer--body"><div class="ntaer--body-ner"></div></div></div></div></div></div></article><div class="ContentFooterWrapper-jVNdRG dTJkpP ArticlePageContentFooterGrid-ccsXYy eMZRHU article-body__footer"><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK kHBDeH grid grid-margs grid-ems-2 grid-layout--adrail narrow wi-adrail"><div class="GridItem-buujkM stRKV grid--em grid-layout__ntent"><footer class="ContentFooterMagazeDisclaimer-gzKAqo iZIuUU" data-ttid="MagazeDisclaimerWrapper">Published the prt edn of the <a href="/magaze/2015/02/23" data-reactroot="">Febary 23 & March 2, 2015</a>, issue, wh the headle “The Sojourner.”</footer></div></div><div class="RowWrapper-UmqTg HEhan"><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK kHBDeH grid grid-margs grid-ems-2 grid-layout--adrail narrow wi-adrail"><div class="GridItem-buujkM stRKV grid--em grid-layout__ntent"></div></div></div><div class="RowWrapper-UmqTg HEhan"><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK kHBDeH grid grid-margs grid-ems-2 grid-layout--adrail narrow wi-adrail"><div class="GridItem-buujkM stRKV grid--em grid-layout__ntent"><div class="ContributorsWrapper-eNpWFu GWFsc ntributors" data-ttid="Contributors"><div class="ContributorBWrapper-bnVHbt gMon"><div class="ContributorBAvatar-bIGTqf eMWbvj"><a href="/ntributors/hilton-als"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW jvZaPI rponsive-asset"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa rponsive-image"><source media="(max-width: 767px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w" siz="100vw"/><source media="(m-width: 768px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w" siz="100vw"/><img alt="" class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src="></picture></span></a></div><div class="ContributorBContent-ubQdr jZTSSi"><div class="ContributorBHear-ledood XOIEx"></div><div class="ContributorBB-fBolsO giFhKz"><a href="/ntributors/hilton-als">Hilton Als</a>, a staff wrer at The New Yorker, won the 2017 Pulzer Prize for cricism. He published “<a href=">My Pup</a>,” November, 2022.</div><div class="ContributorBFooter-brqDlv ezUmSv"></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="RowWrapper-UmqTg HEhan"><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK kHBDeH grid grid-margs grid-ems-2 grid-layout--adrail narrow wi-adrail"><div class="GridItem-buujkM stRKV grid--em grid-layout__ntent"></div></div></div><div data-ttid="ContentFooterBottom" class="ContentFooterBottom-jwWZfC kcbyiW"><div class="ContentFooterNewsletterContentWrapper-bmjtna kixtae"><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK kHBDeH grid grid-margs grid-ems-2 grid-layout--adrail narrow wi-adrail"><div class="GridItem-buujkM stRKV grid--em grid-layout__ntent"><div data-ttid="NewsletterSubscribeFormWrapper" class="NewsletterSubscribeFormWrapper-fCqqkN jKSBhE newsletter-subscribe-form ContentFooterNewsletterForm-hKeYwa liPqcf"><div data-ttid="NewsletterSubscribeFormHedDekWrapper" class="NewsletterSubscribeFormHedDekWrapper-fpMElW eglIBL"><h3 class="NewsletterSubscribeFormDangeroHed-kRwWjt kbxOa-D newsletter-subscribe-form__hed ContentFooterNewsletterForm-hKeYwa liPqcf">Weekly</h3><div class="NewsletterSubscribeFormDek-kXonvc cKOhTM newsletter-subscribe-form__k">Your gui to the latt magaze and our biggt stori of the week, pl highlights om podsts, humor, and more.</div></div><div data-ttid="NewsletterSubscribeFormInputsWrapper" class="NewsletterSubscribeFormInputsWrapper-keARJE hVWbzr"><form class="form-wh-validatn NewsletterSubscribeFormValidatn-iCYa-Dt dweEln" id="newsletter" name="newsletter" novalidate="" method="POST"><span class="TextFieldWrapper-Pzdqp hNhevp text-field" data-ttid="TextFieldWrapper__email"><label class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ TextFieldLabel-klrYvg iUEiRd stdEm fvoOvz text-field__label text-field__label--sgle-le" for="newsletter-text-field-email" data-ttid="TextFieldLabel__email"><div class="TextFieldLabelText-cvvxBl eeDYTb">E-mail addrs</div><div class="TextFieldInputContaer-jcMPhb oFrOs"><put type="email" aria-scribedby="privacy-text" aria-valid="false" id="newsletter-text-field-email" required="" name="email" placeholr="E-mail addrs" class="BaseInput-fAzTdK TextFieldControlInput-eFUxkf eGzzTT laFPCK text-field__ntrol text-field__ntrol--put" data-ttid="TextFieldInput__email"/></div></label><button class="BaseButton-bLlsy ButtonWrapper-xCepQ bqVKKv dwpimO button button--utily TextFieldButton-csBrgY edxbrw" data-event-click="{"element":"Button"}" data-ttid="Button" type="subm"><span class="ButtonLabel-cjAuJN hzwRuG button__label">Sign up</span></button></span><div id="privacy-text" tabx="-1" class="NewsletterSubscribeFormDisclaimer-bTVtiV bsgLJZ"><span><p>By signg up, you agree to our <a href=" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">User Agreement</a> and <a href=" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Privacy Policy & Cookie Statement</a>. 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summary-llectn-grid--DenseDktopStack"><div class="GridItem-buujkM kHPPIF grid--em"><div class="SummaryCollectnGridContent-eVUpRm jTGbEO"><div class="SectnTleRoot-dBGvdq kjAxEG SummaryCollectnGridSectnTle-fCmYwG izjbVn" data-ttid="SectnTle"><hear class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ SectnTleHed-dKqZet dxqEAa dqtvfu jttyjJ">Read More</hear></div><div class="SummaryCollectnGridItems-DZShR jBCYOL hi-read-more-ad" data-ttid="SummaryCollectnGridItems"><div class="SummaryItemWrapper-iwvBff ewgXAt summary-em summary-em--article summary-em--no-in summary-em--text-align-left summary-em--layout-placement-text-below-sktop-only summary-em--layout-posn-image-right summary-em--layout-proportns-33-66 summary-em--si-by-si-align-center summary-em--si-by-si-image-right-mobile-false summary-em--standard SummaryCollectnGridSummaryItem-WColm dqlGhv" role="button" tabx="0"><div class="SummaryItemAssetContaer-gwhFFH VOyg summary-em__asset-ntaer"><a class="SummaryItemImageLk-dshqxb USLvL summary-em__image-lk summary-em-trackg__image-lk" href="/magaze/2001/12/03/unhappy-endgs" aria-hidn="te" tabx="-1" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-image-1" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" target="_self"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kGxnNB rponsive-asset SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image"><div data-tt="aspect-rat-ntaer" class="AspectRatContaer-bJHpJz jMoLpX"><div class="aspect-rat--overlay-ntaer"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image rponsive-image"><noscript><source media="(max-width: 767px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w" siz="100vw"/><source media="(m-width: 768px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w" siz="100vw"/><img alt="Unhappy Endgs" class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src="></noscript></picture></div></div></span></a></div><div class="SummaryItemContent-eiDYMl bcywvc summary-em__ntent summary-em__ntent--no-bric"><a class="SummaryItemHedLk-civM cZPaWG summary-em-trackg__hed-lk summary-em__hed-lk" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-hed-1" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" href="/magaze/2001/12/03/unhappy-endgs" target="_self"><div class="SummaryItemHedBase-hiFYpQ iIjKeM summary-em__hed" data-ttid="SummaryItemHed">Unhappy Endgs</div></a><div class="SummaryItemAssetContaer-gwhFFH VOyg summary-em__asset-ntaer"><a class="SummaryItemImageLk-dshqxb USLvL summary-em__image-lk summary-em-trackg__image-lk" href="/magaze/2001/12/03/unhappy-endgs" aria-hidn="te" tabx="-1" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-image-1" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" target="_self"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kGxnNB rponsive-asset SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image"><div data-tt="aspect-rat-ntaer" class="AspectRatContaer-bJHpJz jMoLpX"><div class="aspect-rat--overlay-ntaer"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image rponsive-image"><noscript><source media="(max-width: 767px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w" siz="100vw"/><source media="(m-width: 768px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w" siz="100vw"/><img alt="Unhappy Endgs" class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src="></noscript></picture></div></div></span></a></div><div class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ SummaryItemDek-CRfsi iUEiRd jxOIpm cPtisA summary-em__k">The llected Carson McCullers.</div><div class="SummaryItemByleWrapper-boCfbi cuRXdL summary-em__byle-date-in"><div class="SummaryItemBaseByle-fFbXkY cgDBtc summary-em__byle"><div class="summary-em__byle__ntent"><div data-ttid="BylWrapper" class="BylWrapper-KIudk irTIfE byl"><p class="ByleWrapper-jWHrLH dSEWiO byle byl__byle" data-ttid="ByleWrapper" emProp="thor" emType="><span emProp="name" class="ByleNamWrapper-jbHncj fuDQVo"><span data-ttid="ByleName" class="ByleName-kwmrLn cYaBaU byle__name"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ BylePreamble-iJolpQ iUEiRd jslZfG gnILss byle__preamble">By </span>Hilton Als</span></span></p></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="SummaryItemWrapper-iwvBff ewgXAt summary-em summary-em--article summary-em--no-in summary-em--text-align-left summary-em--layout-placement-text-below-sktop-only summary-em--layout-posn-image-right summary-em--layout-proportns-33-66 summary-em--si-by-si-align-center summary-em--si-by-si-image-right-mobile-false summary-em--standard SummaryCollectnGridSummaryItem-WColm dqlGhv" role="button" tabx="0"><div class="SummaryItemAssetContaer-gwhFFH VOyg summary-em__asset-ntaer"><a class="SummaryItemImageLk-dshqxb USLvL summary-em__image-lk summary-em-trackg__image-lk" href="/magaze/2010/11/08/ntozake-shange-for-lored-girls-play-profile-hilton-als" aria-hidn="te" tabx="-1" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-image-2" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" target="_self"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kGxnNB rponsive-asset SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image"><div data-tt="aspect-rat-ntaer" class="AspectRatContaer-bJHpJz jMoLpX"><div class="aspect-rat--overlay-ntaer"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image rponsive-image"><noscript><source media="(max-width: 767px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w" siz="100vw"/><source media="(m-width: 768px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w" siz="100vw"/><img alt="Color Visn" class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src="></noscript></picture></div></div></span></a></div><div class="SummaryItemContent-eiDYMl bcywvc summary-em__ntent"><div class="RubricWrapper-dKmCNX kImuKS bric bric--disvery SummaryItemRubric-dguGKN fYiFyD summary-em__bric"><span class="RubricName-fVtemz cLxcNi">Life and Letters</span></div><a class="SummaryItemHedLk-civM cZPaWG summary-em-trackg__hed-lk summary-em__hed-lk" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-hed-2" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" href="/magaze/2010/11/08/ntozake-shange-for-lored-girls-play-profile-hilton-als" target="_self"><div class="SummaryItemHedBase-hiFYpQ iIjKeM summary-em__hed" data-ttid="SummaryItemHed">Color Visn</div></a><div class="SummaryItemAssetContaer-gwhFFH VOyg summary-em__asset-ntaer"><a class="SummaryItemImageLk-dshqxb USLvL summary-em__image-lk summary-em-trackg__image-lk" href="/magaze/2010/11/08/ntozake-shange-for-lored-girls-play-profile-hilton-als" aria-hidn="te" tabx="-1" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-image-2" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" target="_self"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kGxnNB rponsive-asset SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image"><div data-tt="aspect-rat-ntaer" class="AspectRatContaer-bJHpJz jMoLpX"><div class="aspect-rat--overlay-ntaer"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image rponsive-image"><noscript><source media="(max-width: 767px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w" siz="100vw"/><source media="(m-width: 768px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w" siz="100vw"/><img alt="Color Visn" class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src="></noscript></picture></div></div></span></a></div><div class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ SummaryItemDek-CRfsi iUEiRd jxOIpm cPtisA summary-em__k">Ntozake Shange’s outspoken art.</div><div class="SummaryItemByleWrapper-boCfbi cuRXdL summary-em__byle-date-in"><div class="SummaryItemBaseByle-fFbXkY cgDBtc summary-em__byle"><div class="summary-em__byle__ntent"><div data-ttid="BylWrapper" class="BylWrapper-KIudk irTIfE byl"><p class="ByleWrapper-jWHrLH dSEWiO byle byl__byle" data-ttid="ByleWrapper" emProp="thor" emType="><span emProp="name" class="ByleNamWrapper-jbHncj fuDQVo"><span data-ttid="ByleName" class="ByleName-kwmrLn cYaBaU byle__name"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ BylePreamble-iJolpQ iUEiRd jslZfG gnILss byle__preamble">By </span>Hilton Als</span></span></p></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="SummaryItemWrapper-iwvBff ewgXAt summary-em summary-em--ARTICLE summary-em--no-in summary-em--text-align-left summary-em--layout-placement-text-below-sktop-only summary-em--layout-posn-image-right summary-em--layout-proportns-33-66 summary-em--si-by-si-align-center summary-em--si-by-si-image-right-mobile-false summary-em--standard SummaryCollectnGridSummaryItem-WColm dqlGhv" role="button" tabx="0"><div class="SummaryItemAssetContaer-gwhFFH VOyg summary-em__asset-ntaer"><a class="SummaryItemImageLk-dshqxb USLvL summary-em__image-lk summary-em-trackg__image-lk" href=" aria-hidn="te" tabx="-1" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-image-3" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" target="_self"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kGxnNB rponsive-asset SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image"><div data-tt="aspect-rat-ntaer" class="AspectRatContaer-bJHpJz jMoLpX"><div class="aspect-rat--overlay-ntaer"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image rponsive-image"><noscript><source media="(max-width: 767px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w" siz="100vw"/><source media="(m-width: 768px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w" siz="100vw"/><img alt="What We Still Don’t Unrstand About Postpartum Psychosis" class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src="></noscript></picture></div></div></span></a></div><div class="SummaryItemContent-eiDYMl bcywvc summary-em__ntent"><div class="RubricWrapper-dKmCNX kImuKS bric bric--disvery SummaryItemRubric-dguGKN fYiFyD summary-em__bric"><span class="RubricName-fVtemz cLxcNi">Annals of Medice</span></div><a class="SummaryItemHedLk-civM cZPaWG summary-em-trackg__hed-lk summary-em__hed-lk" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-hed-3" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" href=" target="_self"><div class="SummaryItemHedBase-hiFYpQ iIjKeM summary-em__hed" data-ttid="SummaryItemHed">What We Still Don’t Unrstand About Postpartum Psychosis</div></a><div class="SummaryItemAssetContaer-gwhFFH VOyg summary-em__asset-ntaer"><a class="SummaryItemImageLk-dshqxb USLvL summary-em__image-lk summary-em-trackg__image-lk" href=" aria-hidn="te" tabx="-1" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-image-3" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" target="_self"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kGxnNB rponsive-asset SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image"><div data-tt="aspect-rat-ntaer" class="AspectRatContaer-bJHpJz jMoLpX"><div class="aspect-rat--overlay-ntaer"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image rponsive-image"><noscript><source media="(max-width: 767px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w" siz="100vw"/><source media="(m-width: 768px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w" siz="100vw"/><img alt="What We Still Don’t Unrstand About Postpartum Psychosis" class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src="></noscript></picture></div></div></span></a></div><div class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ SummaryItemDek-CRfsi iUEiRd jxOIpm cPtisA summary-em__k">The recent tragedy surroundg Ldsay Clancy and her children unrsr popular misnceptns about a grave and myster disorr.</div><div class="SummaryItemByleWrapper-boCfbi cuRXdL summary-em__byle-date-in"><div class="SummaryItemBaseByle-fFbXkY cgDBtc summary-em__byle"><div class="summary-em__byle__ntent"><div data-ttid="BylWrapper" class="BylWrapper-KIudk irTIfE byl"><p class="ByleWrapper-jWHrLH dSEWiO byle byl__byle" data-ttid="ByleWrapper" emProp="thor" emType="><span emProp="name" class="ByleNamWrapper-jbHncj fuDQVo"><span data-ttid="ByleName" class="ByleName-kwmrLn cYaBaU byle__name"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ BylePreamble-iJolpQ iUEiRd jslZfG gnILss byle__preamble">By </span>Jsi Wter</span></span></p></div></div></div></div></div></div><div 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langston hughes gay poem

Langston Hugh was gay. Get over .

Contents:

CELEBRATG LANGSTON HUGH — BLACK, RED AND GAY

Some theorists claimed that Hugh wasn’t gay but was rather unterted sex wh anyone, regardls of genr. Others claim that he was a gay man, and any suggtn to the ntrary is an attempt to hi an important part of his an unmon turn of events, both theori may be is entirely possible that Langston Hugh was asexual and gay. The first bgrapher who suggted his asexualy, Arnold Rampersad, did so bee there was no ncrete evince supportg Langston Hughe’s supposed homosexualy.

He wrote unpublished love poems wh their subjects beg men, and he often found himself the pany of gay men, havg many iends who were out, and beg a part of the queer muny at the time. Today Gay History: The Great ‘Was Langston Gay? The Gay & Lbian Review., Tobias.

BATTLE L : USE OF HUGH POEM ON GAY HISTORY POSTER IGN FUROR

It’s important to remember that he me of age an era durg which gay men—and blacks—were physilly and mentally abed for beg what they were.

*BEAR-MAGAZINE.COM* LANGSTON HUGHES GAY POEM

Today Gay History: The Great ‘Was Langston Gay?’ Debate .

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