Langston Hughes in Lawrence

Kennedy, Jameelah, myself and Rose. The Langston in Lawrence class.

This year I took the most challenging and by far the most rewarding class at KU. Disappointed with the American History courses KU was offering, I received a special exemption to get my U.S. History credit if I took a Harlem Renaissance class with Dr. Jacob Dorman. On the first day of class, Dr. Dorman allowed us flexibility to shape our work in the class. After a conversation led by Jameelah Jones, a student in the class, we chose to spend our efforts commemorating Langston Hughes’ life in Lawrence.

The four of us (Jameelah, Kennedy, myself and Rose) conducted on-campus and community surveying and found that very few Lawrence residents or KU students were aware that Langston Hughes’ spent his childhood in Lawrence, and even more concerningly, few also knew of Hughes’ legacy as one of the greatest poets in our countries' history.

We spent class reading multiple biographies of Langston Hughes and crafted a 40 page grant through the City of Lawrence to commemorate Hughes’ life in the city. When pursuing funding opportunities, The Lawrence Arts Commission pushed back on our analysis and felt that Hughes’ life was represented well in the city.

My task was to write potential signs in the city that illustrated Langston Hughes’ connection with different sights in the city of Lawrence. I want to thank Jameelah Jones for answering all of the questions I had through this process, and teaching me about the impact Langston Hughes had and continue to has on this world. Hughes has gone on to have a noted impact on my life since.

The Lawrence City Council ended up bumping our proposal from the docket. But learning about Langston Hughes changed my life, as well as working with the inner bureaucracies of an American University and a city. I want to thank Dr. Dorman for those opportunities. I also want to thank Jameelah, Kennedy and Rose for working so hard on this effort with me in this class.

My hope is to adapt what I’ve learned into K-12 lessons about Langston Hughes to continue honoring his legacy and passing his wisdom to future generations. Below are the proposed signs I wrote honoring Langston Hughes’ time in Lawrence.

Ben Honeycutt

Harlem Renaissance 

Professor Dorman 

6 May 2014 

“Across the Footlights” 

Liberty Hall, 644 Massachusetts 

“Then I went to see road shows […] sitting up in the gallery all by myself, thrilled at the world across the footlights.” –Langston Hughes in The Big Sea. 

Liberty Hall, formerly known as The Bowersock Opera House, was the location that writer Langston Hughes attended multiple theatrical productions when he was a child. Spending many years of his childhood in Lawrence, Hughes would attend many shows at Bowersock despite being forced to sit in the theater’s balcony (negatively referred to as “Coon Hill” by some of the white attendees). This forced segregation may have influenced Hughes’ future works. In his novel, Not Without Laughter, Hughes would convey the hopelessness a young black student felt when she was forcibly separated from her white classmates. Despite these experiences, Hughes would fondly recollect viewing The Pink Lady and The Firefly inside the theater. These performances would be among Hughes’ first exposures to theatrical productions, kindling a love that would stay with him throughout his life. 

In the Bowersock, Hughes would encounter both the magical world of theatre and the oppression that was facing African Americans throughout the nation. These events would play a crucial role in influencing Hughes’ work over the coming generations. 

“A Lost Eden” 

Lawrence Antique Mall, 828 Massachusetts

           “I was paid 50 cents a week, with which I went to see Mary Pickford and Charlie Chaplin and Theda Bara on screen.” – Langston Hughes in The Big Sea

            Until 1955, the Lawrence Antique Mall was the site of the Patee Theater, and was a regular destination for Langston Hughes when he was a child. When he was in seventh grade, the future writer would save up the money he made working at a local hotel (believed to be the Eldridge or The Lawrence House – now razed) to see productions at the Patee Theater. Unfortunately for Hughes, African Americans were eventually denied entrance into the establishment. Though Lawrence was well known for its efforts in bleeding Kansas and its pivotal role in Kansas’ establishment as a free state, the city was not immune to the horrific policies of the Jim Crow years, leading to some to regard the city as a “Lost Eden.” This experience, along with many others, would inspire Hughes to craft a body of work that openly protested the racist policies of the United States. Hughes’ works would go on to be beacon of hope for thousands who were facing oppression, and continues to resonate and inspire thousands to this day. 

“Stand”

New York School, 936 New York

Writer Langston Hughes attended New York School through his fourth through sixth grade years. Eventually becoming one the world’s most well known writers from the 1920’s through the 1950’s, much of Hughes early education took place in Lawrence, Kansas. Hughes was remembered by his teachers as a “bright boy who sometimes spoke up in an independent manner.” The writer truly made a name for himself in middle school, when he took a stand after his teacher forced the black students of the class to sit in a separate row from their white classmates. Hughes refused to participate in what he called the “Jim Crow” seating, and was expelled for standing up for what he believed. In response, many people around Lawrence came together and protested Hughes’ expulsion, and young Langston was allowed to return to school while his teacher abandoned the Jim Crow seating arrangement. Hughes would go on to become a writer who inspired terrific changes and helped a countless amount of people throughout his life. To this day, the story of Hughes’ standing up against the segregated seating arrangement is a prime example as to why everyone should stand up for what they believe. 

“A Legacy in Lawrence”

Kansas Union 

“Lawrence has a wonderful hill in it, with a university on top and the first time I ran away from home, I ran up the hill and looked across the world: Kansas wheat fields and the Kaw River, and I wanted to go some place, too. I got a whipping for it.”  -- Langston Hughes

Writer Langston Hughes spent many of his childhood years in the city of Lawrence and on the campus of KU. In his first of two autobiographies, Hughes would fondly recollect reciting the “Rock Chalk” chant and exploring many of the buildings of the university. Lawrence and KU would be among the first places where Hughes would discover his love for rivers, a love that would inspire him to compose many of his most revered works in his collection. Hughes, one of the most prominent writers of the Harlem Renaissance and the Jazz Age as a whole, would carry his experiences in Lawrence through some of his works, including his first novel, Not Without Laughter. Hughes left a powerful impact on his readers by utilizing unique blues rhythms and cadences in his writings. This caused him to be well known as a poet of the people, and caused his works to connect with thousands around the world. 

Hughes would return to KU on three separate occasions to deliver readings of his poetry. In 1958, a jazz band accompanied Hughes in his performance here at the Union. Langston Hughes’ experiences on the hill and river in Lawrence would give him a whipping that would help kindle some of his most powerful works, and allow him to leave a phenomenal legacy.