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Letters from the

Archives of Marcus Bruce Christian

From & To Friends, Colleagues, & Wife

 

 

Books by Marcus Bruce Christian

Song of the Black Valiants: Marching Tempo / High Ground: A Collection of Poems  / Negro soldiers in the Battle of New Orleans

I am New Orleans: A Poem / Negro Iron Workers of Louisiana: 1718-1900 /  The Liberty Monument

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Books by Langston

 

 Weary Blues (1926) / The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes  /  The Ways of White Folks (Stories) / The Big Sea: An Autobiography

Best of Simple    /  I Wonder as I Wander: An Autobiographical Journey  / New Negro Poets U.S.A.

Not Without Laughter  /Five Plays by Langston Hughes / Selected Poems of Langston Hughes

Ask Your Mama: Twelve Moods for Jazz / Fine Clothes to the Jew / The Collected Works of Langston Hughes (Poems 1921-1940)

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Letter 1

Langston Hughes Comments

On Christian's Blues Poems

Langston Hughes

c/o The Crisis, 69 Fifth Avenue 

New York City

On Tour

Tuskegee Institute, Alabama

February 15, 1932

 

Mr. Marcus B. Christian

2500 Palmyra Street

New Orleans, Louisiana 

My dear Mr. Christian: 

I believe I told you after my lecture that I liked your BLUES best, particularly your splendid poem in dialect about the New Year. I liked also the poem BOW DOWN NIGGER BOW DOWN.

The only criticism I would have on these dialect poems is that your dialect is too complicated for the average person to read, which would hinder their having a wide appreciation. I think they would be just as effective if you would limit your dialect to a few words like spelling 'the' in the conventional 'de' way and not attempting to dialectize every word.

The other poem of these that I think I liked best was the lovely little lyric called SOUVENIR. I think that would make a very beautiful song. Thank you for letting me see your work. Why not submit some of them to the magazines and newspapers for possible publication? 

Very truly yours, 

Langston Hughes

Introduction    Next--2->>

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Ballad of Roosevelt

 By Langston Hughes

The pot was empty,

The cupboard was bare.

I said, Papa,

What’s the matter here?

I’m waitin' on Roosevelt, son,

Roosevelt, Roosevelt,

Waitin' on Roosevelt, son.

The rent was due,

And the lights was out.

I said, Tell me, Mama,

What’s it all about?

We’re waitin' on Roosevelt, son,

Roosevelt, Roosevelt,

Just waitin' on Roosevelt.

Sister got sick

And the doctor wouldn’t come

Cause we couldn’t pay him

The proper sum—

A-waitin on Roosevelt,

Roosevelt, Roosevelt,

A-waitin' on Roosevelt.

Then one day

They put us out o' the house.

Ma and Pa was Meek as a mouse

Still waitin' on Roosevelt,

Roosevelt, Roosevelt.

But when they felt those

Cold winds blow

And didn’t have no

Place to go

Pa said, I’m tired

O’waitin' on Roosevelt,

Roosevelt, Roosevelt.

Damn tired o‘ waitin’ on Roosevelt.

I can’t git a job

And I can’t git no grub.

Backbone and navel’s

Doin' the belly-rub—

A-waitin' on Roosevelt,

Roosevelt, Roosevelt.

And a lot o' other folks

What’s hungry and cold

Done stopped believin'

What they been told

By Roosevelt,

Roosevelt, Roosevelt—

Cause the pot’s still empty,

And the cupboard’s still bare,

And you can’t build a

bungalow

Out o' air—

Mr. Roosevelt, listen!

What’s the matter here?

Source: Langston Hughes, “Ballad of Roosevelt,” New Republic 31 (November 14, 1934)

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The Negro Speaks of Rivers

                                By Langston Hughes

 

I've known rivers:

I've known rivers ancient as the world and older than the

     flow of human blood in human veins.

 

My soul has grown deep like the rivers.

 

I bathed in the Euphrates when dawns were young.

I built my hut near the Congo and it lulled me to sleep.

I looked upon the Nile and raised the pyramids above it.

I heard the singing of the Mississippi when Abe Lincoln

     went down to New Orleans, and I've seen its muddy

     bosom turn all golden in the sunset.

 

I've known rivers:

Ancient, dusky rivers.

 

My soul has grown deep like the rivers.

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Written in 1920

Source: Poets.org: Includes audio of Hughes reading

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Scholarly Books on Langston Hughes

Martha Cobb. Harlem,  Haiti, and Havana: A comparative critical study of Langston Hughes, Jacques Roumain, Nicolás Guillén. 1979.

Faith Berry. Before & Beyond Harlem: Biography of Langston Hughes. 1995.

Faith Berry, edited Good Morning Revolution: Uncollected Writings of Langston Hughes. 1973

Arnold Rampersad. The Life of Langston Hughes: Volume I: 1902-1941, I, Too, Sing America (Life of Langston Hughes, 1902-1941). 2002

Arnold Rampersad. The Life of Langston Hughes: Volume II: 1914-1967, I Dream a World (Life of Langston Hughes, 1941-1967). 2002

Steven C. Tracy. Langston Hughes and the Blues. 2001

R. Baxter Miller. The Art And Imagination of Langston Hughes. 2006.

Christopher C Santis, Christopher C Santis, Langston Hughes and the *Chicago Defender*: Essays on Race, Politics, and Culture, 1942-62. 1995

Jonathan Scott Socialist Joy in the Writing of Langston Hughes. 2006

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Selected Letters  Selected Diary Notes

Memories of Marcus B. Christian (CainsChristian's BioBibliographical Record    Introduction to I AM NEW ORLEANS 

A Theory of a Black Aesthetic   Magpies, Goddesses, & Black Male Identity

Activist Works on Next Level of Change   Intro to I Am New Orleans   Letter from Dillard University

A Labor of Genuine Love  Letter of Gift of Photos   Letters from LSU and Skip Gates

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Negro Iron Workers of Louisiana: 1718-1900

By Marcus Bruce Christian

 

Study of the blacksmith tradition and New Orleans famous lace balconies and fences.

Acclaimed during his life as the unofficial poet laureate of the New Orleans African-American community, Marcus Christian recorded a distinguished career as historian, journalist, and literary scholar. He was a contributor to Pelican's Gumbo Ya Ya, and also wrote many articles that appeared in numerous newspapers, journals, and general-interest publications.

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Audio: My Story, My Song (Featuring blues guitarist Walter Wolfman Washington)

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Ancient African Nations

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Negro Digest / Black World

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Enjoy!

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The Death of Emmett Till by Bob Dylan  The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll  Only a Pawn in Their Game

Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson Thanks America for Slavery

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The Journal of Negro History issues at Project Gutenberg

The Haitian Declaration of Independence 1804  / January 1, 1804 -- The Founding of Haiti 

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updated 21 February 2009

 

 

Home     Marcus Bruce Christian  Selected Letters  Selected Diary Notes    I Am New Orleans Table (Poems)   Fifty Influential Figures

Related files: Langston Hughes Bio  New Negro Poets U.S.A.   In Praise of Langston Hughes  Sermon and Blues    Notes of a Native Son  (Langston Reviews Baldwin)

Socialist Joy  Langston Hughes to Christian   New Negro Poets U.S.A.  Langston Hughes Life and Works