Brain Snacks: Tasty Tidbits of Knowledge
Langston Hughes was traveled to Africa and also lived in Paris around the time he wrote "The Weary Blues." (Source)
In 1924, Hughes won Opportunity magazine's literary contest for "The Weary Blues." (Source)
Langston Hughes was working as a bus-boy in Washington, DC when he snuck three poems into the bag of a famous poet, Vachel Lindsay. That sealed the deal in 1925, and Hughes became a hit. (Source)
Hughes had strong associations with radical political movements like black nationalism, socialism, and radical democracy. Senator McCarthy forced him to testify in 1953 before the House Committee on Un-American Activities for his highly political poetry. (Source)