Hughes, "The Negro Speaks of Rivers”
One hundred years ago today … Langston Hughes’s poem "The Negro Speaks of Rivers,” appeared in the June issue of The Crisis. Hughes, a recent high school graduate, had written the piece in 1920 and submitted it to Crisis literary editor Jessie Redmon Fauset.
The Crisis, June 1921, p. 71. Modernist Journals Project
Listen to Hughes reading and introducing "The Negro Speaks of Rivers” here.
Although It is sometimes written that this was Hughes’s first publication, Fauset had previously put out his workin The Brownies Book, which also printed his high school photo in its July, 1920 issue.
The Brownies Book, July 1920, p. 207. Courtesy My Life 100 Years Ago.
Note: we featured Fauset for our post about February 22, 1921, and The Crisis many times, such as in our February 1, 1920 post.
Hughes would move to New York City in September of 1921 to enroll in Columbia University.
– Jonathan Goldman, June 9, 2021
TAGS: Black poetry, Black writers, Black arts, Harlem Renaissance, periodicals, African American history