Langston Hughes

Excerpt Tuesday – Harlem – Langston Hughes

HarlemHughes

Featuring Langston Hughes’ lovely epigram “Prayer” this weekend (paired with a series of fantastic drawings by Ms. Czarnecka of D is for Doodle) reminded me of the other Langston Hughes poem I have illustrated. The first line of “Harlem” is so famous, it easily stands in for the rest of the poem.  When he published it in 1951, I wonder if Mr. Hughes could have predicted the amazing and ongoing life this poem would have – “Dream Deferred” continues to be a powerful reference used in connection with current events, such as those in Ferguson, Mo. Read the whole short and incredibly powerful poem here. Drawing (ink on paper) and composition by me.

Excerpt Tuesday – Harlem – Langston Hughes

 

HarlemHughes

Today’s excerpt is from Langston Hughes’ eternal classic, “Harlem.” If you are like me, you *may* have mistakenly searched (more than once, I admit) for this poem under the title “Dream Deferred,” so iconic has the first line become in representing the civil rights movement and inequality. As recently as Aug 19th of this year, an editorialist in the New York Times used “Dream Deferred” in the title of his op-ed piece on the rioting in Ferguson, Mo. Read the whole poem here. Drawing (ink on paper) and composition by me.