In light of it being Pride month, and being a member of the LGBTQIA+ community myself, I would be remiss if I didn’t share the memory, influence, and impact of a queer Black hero from our past, present, or future. Unaware by many of his sexuality, Langston Hughes was a Black gay man that fought for the civil rights of Black and gay people through his poetry and prose. Although I would have loved to have been able to meet Mr. Hughes, he inspired me to bounds incomprehensible; I am thankful and grateful to have him as an ancestor, ase.
Born on February 1, 1902 in Joplin, Missouri was James Mercer Langston Hughes. After being raised by his grandmother until he was 13, Hughes moved to Lincoln, Illinois, the birthplace of his poetry, with his mother. To stay afloat during the “Roaring ’20s,” Hughes held many odd jobs such as a busboy, cook, seaman, and launderer. He also moved around quite frequently to places including New York, Washington D.C., Ohio, Mexico, Africa, and Europe.
Although Hughes kept his personal life private and to himself, many biographers concur that Hughes was gay and that he hinted at it throughout his work. Langston Hughes’ principal biographer wrote that “Hughes found some young men, especially dark-skinned men, appealing and sexually fascinating…in his various artistic representations..virile young men of very dark complexion fascinated him.” He has several unpublished love poems addressed to a man identified as Beauty and wrote a poem entitled “To F.S.,” who is regarded as the sailor Hughes met from Jamaica and stayed in contact with for over 30 years. It’s also speculated that he fell in love with singer Gilbert Price, during his sixties. Langston even had a gay traveling companion while voyaging through the Caribbean.
Never ashamed of himself or his people, Langston Hughes was an activist who fought for the equality and rights of all African Americans. As a prominent figure of the Harlem Renaissance, Hughes had great influence, and used it through his words to encourage a better life for his people. With his prose, poetry, and plays, Langston Hughes shared the often silenced story of his brothers and sisters in America. He gave a voice to the disenfranchised, the ones afraid to speak…to me. He helped so many others, just so their dreams might not be deferred. Thank you Mr. Hughes, we don’t tell you enough.
