TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Langston Hughes was best known for his poetry, but he also wrote short stories. The Ways of White Folks (1933) shows the troubled aspects of blacks and whites interacting in daily life.
In “Cora Unashamed,” a black servant for a white family overcomes the death of her infant child by helping raise the white infant daughter of her employer. Years later, when the white daughter becomes pregnant, Cora is at the center of action.
I found “Home” the most striking story in this collection. A gifted black musician, who finds success in Europe, returns to his home town of Hopkinsville, Missouri to visit his mother. He finds a culture of hate and violence.
A young black boy discovers in “One Christmas Eve” what Santa Claus is all about. Langston Hughes captures the cruelty of every day life as black folk try to live with white folk in an uneasy truce. Powerful stories! GRADE: A
1 Cora Unashamed — 3
2 Slave on the Block — 19
3 Home — 33
4 Passing — 51
5 A Good Job Gone — 57
6 Rejuvenation Through Joy — 69
7 The Blues I’m Playing — 99
8 Red-Headed Baby — 125
9 Poor Little Black Fellow — 133
10 Little Dog — 161
11 Berry — 177
12 Mother and Child — 189
13 One Christmas Eve — 199
14 Father and Son. — 207
He did good work in every form he turned his hand to.
Todd, Langston Hughes was a very underrated writer.
Almost 100 years on and we’re still grappling with the racism and violence.
Deb, some people still harbor hatred in their hearts…and act on it. The massacre in Buffalo is just the latest example.
Chauvinism is such an easy thing to engage in, and so necessary for some.
Todd, it’s also the power relationship between the races. And, as Lord Acton said, “Power tends to corrupt…and Absolute Power corrupts absolutely.”
Though the actual “soldiers”, such as the idiot thug in Buffalo, are not all that much more powerful than most more-discriminated-against people. They, too, have awful lives, and it’s certainly in the interest of those making nearly all of our lives worse (while bettering themselves)…that 1% of song and story…to encourage less well-off white Protestant and big church otherwise sorts to resent their fellow proletarians as much as possible.
Todd, hate groups channel disturbed individuals into violent acts. The shooter in Buffalo believed in “Replacement Theory”–a Jewish cabal was behind mass immigration into America to replace Whites. Terrorist organizations follow the same playbook to trigger mass shootings and suicide bombers.
There was a time when it looked like things might improve, but it got worse instead. Very sad.
Patti, the Internet gave a lot a hate groups a forum to spread their conspiracy theories.
I think it’s also the degree to which the hatred never went away was downplayed, much as police corruption is often ignored and the permeation of guns as a billion-dollar industry is not new nor has it ever abated. And certainly hatred militias and cults were able to form Just Fine with their “newsletters” through the mails before electronic communications were democratized.
Todd, Trump also gave the signal for many of these groups to come out of the shadows.
Definitely. Not that Republican Admins since at least Nixon and going into high speed by Reagan weren’t already exploiting and furthering these unfortunate folks.
I like his poetry a lot, the few stories I’ve read, not as much.
Rick, the stories show the starkness of life in those days.
At least, for a whole lot of people. Still true, and never stopped being true.
I definitely read some Hughes in college, and liked what I can remember, even the poetry. This collection doesn’t sound familiar.
Jeff, I’ve had THE WAYS OF WHITE FOLKS on my shelves for decades. I’m making a concerted effort to read more books that I’ve owned for years…but hadn’t gotten around to read.