[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 5 (Tuesday, January 29, 2002)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E60]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          COMMEMORATING THE 100TH BIRTHDAY OF LANGSTON HUGHES

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                             HON. JIM RYUN

                               of kansas

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, January 29, 2002

  Mr. RYUN of Kansas. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to commemorate the 
100th birthday of Langston Hughes, which will take place on February 1, 
2002.
  Langston Hughes grew up in Topeka, Lawrence and Kansas City, Kansas. 
His mother, Carrie Hughes, raised him on her own as she worked in the 
office of Topeka's first African-American lawyer, James H. Guy.
  Langston discovered poetry in the eighth grade and published his 
first poem, ``The Negro Speaks of Rivers``, shortly after leaving 
Columbia University. After moving to Harlem he published many works 
including his first book of poems, ``The Weary Blues.''
  He graduated from Lincoln University in 1929 with a Bachelor of Arts 
degree. In 1943 he received an honorary doctorate. Both the Guggenheim 
and Roeswald granted Hughes fellowships and he later accepted 
assignments as Atlanta University's poet in residence and news 
correspondent during the Spanish Civil War.
  Langston Hughes was a prolific writer. In the forty-odd years between 
his first book and his death in 1967, he devoted his life to writing 
and lecturing. He wrote sixteen books of poems, two novels, three 
collections of short stories and much, much more.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise today to commend Mr. Langston Hughes for holding 
strong the belief in equality, for being an influence in the literary 
community and for being the people's poet.

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