Langston Hughes Collection 1956-1960

Belafonte, Harry, 1927-2023

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Born to immigrant parents in Harlem on March 1, 1927, Harry Belafonte spent much of his youth in his mother's home country of Jamaica. Though difficult, life in Jamaica was full of rich cultural experiences that influenced Belafonte's art. At the beginning of World War II, Belafonte returned to Harlem with his mother and brother. He had trouble integrating into the new environment and later dropped out of high school to join the U.S. Navy. After Belafonte was honorably discharged, he went bac...

Baker, Josephine, 1906-1975

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Josephine Baker(1906-1975) was a dancer, singer, and civil rights activist. She performed in Paris, New York, Africa, and the Middle East, and was a crusader for racial equality. She was born Freda Josephine McDonald in St. Louis, Missouri, the daughter of Eddie Carson, a musician, and Carrie Macdonald. Her parents parted when Josephine was still an infant, and her mother married Arthur Martin, which has led to some confusion about her maiden name. Very llittle is known about her childhood, exce...

Barnaby Conrad

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Odetta, 1930-2008

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Anointed as the queen of American folk music by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Odetta Gordon, a coloratura soprano, was born Odetta Holmes on December 31, 1930 in Birmingham, Alabama. When she lost her father, Rueben Holmes, at a young age, her mother, Flora, remarried and gave the children their stepfather's name, Felious. Moving to Los Angeles with her family in 1936 at age six, Odetta began studying classical music. After graduating from high school, she attended Los Angeles City College where ...

Maryland State College

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Langston, Hughes

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(James) Langston Hughes (February 1, 1902-May 22, 1967), an African-American writer, poet, playwright and columnist made influential contributions in his life and work during the Harlem Renaissance in the 1920's. In 1925 Hughes won first prize in the poetry section of the 1925 Opportunity magazine literary contest, which launched his literary career. His first volume of poetry appeared in 1926. In 1942, he became a columnist for the African American newspaper, the Chicago Defender. Hughes used t...

Theatre Guild

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Established in New York City in 1918, and initially administered by a board of managers, the Theatre Guild was for the greater part of its history co-directed by Lawrence Langner and Theresa Helburn, with Langner’s wife, Armina Marshall Langner, serving several administrative roles. Throughout the twentieth century the Theatre Guild was instrumental in improving the quality of American theatre, introducing audiences to new playwrights and forms of dramatic writing, stagecraft, and musical theatr...

Ina Steele

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