Fun facts about langston hughes

 Fictive fun facts about langston hughes

1) He was the first black man to serve in congress.

2) Langston Hughes is the only person ever elected president without having any prior political experience.

3) Langston Hughes had a total of 5 children with his wife, and none survived infancy.

4) Langston Hughes' last words were "I'm sorry I didn't have more."

5) In an interesting twist of fate, after his death, it was discovered that Hughes had not only stole some of the work of other writers, he had also written several fake articles and letters to make it seem like his work was original.

6) One of the poems that you may know Hughes for, "The Negro Speaks of Rivers", was NOT written by him. It was actually written by a white man, and only attributed to him after his death.

7) Hughes was a long time heavy cigarette smoker who is generally considered a heavy drinker as well.

8) Hughes died at the age of 58 of a heart attack in 1972.

9) His grave has been the target of repeated vandalism and has been damaged beyond repair more than once.

10) He is still remembered as a great American writer who helped lay the groundwork for the Harlem Renaissance.

11) Langston Hughes wrote the first draft of "The Theme" for the famous Jazz standard, "I Got It Bad (And That Ain't Good)."

12) Hughes visited the bar "The Black Cat" in New York City while he was writing "I Got It Bad".

13) He wrote "The Negro Is Still Not Equal But He Can Be Ready To Fight For His Rights And Get Into a Pistol Packing Organization" while drinking at the bar "Slaughter's" in Missouri.

14) While in Cuba serving as a military advisor, Hughes was wounded when he was shot in the chest by mistake by fellow soldiers who thought he was a sniper.

15) He was almost run out of the Red Cross for telling jokes that were seen as being too "black."

16) His writing style was influenced by the African Americanwriter Richard Wright.

17) Born in Joplin Missouri, he lived most of his life in the neighborhood and went by "Pa" during his childhood.

18) Hughes was heavily in debt most of his life, including the time when he owned a number of homes in the same neighborhood.

19) He had over 30 first and last names for his identities.

20) His favorite alcoholic drink was a high proofrakert.

21) He never learned how to play an instrument, but he considered himself a good singer.

22) He was inspired to become a writer after hearing an orator who was too fire up a crowd.

23) One of his favorite authors was the American novelist Edgar Allen Poe.

24) He once worked as a Pullman car porter when he lived in Kansas City.

25) He took his famous last name from the popular local bar "The Mars"...he actually wrote for them under several pen names.

26) He married his wife, Fania, while he was still in his early 20s.

27) He was called a "race bard" by his peers.

28) He considered Theodore Dreiser to be the only real rival for the title of "Great American writer."

29) He once said "I've always tried to give what I had to the language. I have no ambition to be a spokesman for my race. I am only trying to do what I can to keep the language from dying. It would be a terrible thing for it to die. There are so many words that have come from it that are part of our everyday speech. "Git" comes from the Negro, "Jazz" comes from the same source, and so does "Jazzercise."

30) He was a fierce anti-Communist.

31) When George Orwell wrote "1984", he based the character of "Uncle Sam" on Hughes.

32) He held a strong dislike for the works of F. Scott Fitzgerald.

33) He claimed that he would not be surprised if Fitzgerald had never written another book in his life.

34) He once said "All the things that I stand for, put together don't amount to much. But I'd be damned if I'm going to let anyone take away my right to express myself."

35) His favorite drink was an "Old Style" beer.

36) He claimed "The Hate That We Give The World Is Nothing Compared To What We Got Within Ourselves."

37) He was a long-time member of the NAACP.

38) In the 1930's he was called "The King Of Daily Verse" by the newspapers.

39) He was a friend and supporter of the Russian writer Maxim Gorky.

40) He once said "If God gave me a message for the modern world I would tell him to take all the money from the TV set and give it to the poor."

41) He once used his poetry to criticize the idea of U.S. involvement in World War I, which led him to be investigated by the government.

42) He was a huge fan of the American president Franklin D. Roosevelt.

43) He once said "I have never had religion because I don't want to live in a world where Jesus is a nice man. I want to live in a world where he is a bad man."

44) He was a friend of the English novelist D.H. Lawrence, who once called him "a great artist of evil. He is a demon who has been sent to earth to torment it."

45) He once wrote "I do not want to go to heaven. I want to stay right here on Earth and spend the rest of my days in a drunken stupor."

46) He once said "I have no patience with people who say that poetry is some sort of holy or even regular profession. First of all, it's a lot of work and if it weren't, would still be a lot of work. Second, it's one of the most unrewarding and unrewarding activities there is. If you're any good, you do it for the love of it. If not, you do it to feed your insatiable ego. Either way, it doesn't paid well and those that pursue it as a career do so because they are either fools, do not know any better, or have some deeper psychological need to which riches and money can fill. Third, poets are mostly alcoholics, drug addicts, and/or failures in other areas of their life and the few that don't fail on a regular basis are still generally unhappy."

47) He once said "one of the lovely glories of a drunk life is how everything turns into poetry."

48) He once said "Barbara (his late wife) was the only woman I ever loved and I never loved another. Only an alcoholic could have a relationship like that. It's hell on both sides - the drinking partner and the sober partner."

That's 48 imaginary fun facts about langston hughes