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Langston Hughes, a native of Joplin, Missouri, became one
of the most popular figures of the Harlem Renaissance. His
goal was to write a truly "Negro" poetry without
perpetuating racial stereotypes. Many of his poems appeared
in the journals Opportunity and Crisis,
as well as in Alain Locke's The New Negro (1925)
and Countee Cullen's Caroling Dusk (1927). Wealthy
patrons helped him to publish his first volume of poetry --
The Weary Blues (1926) -- to go through college,
and to support himself while writing. In the 1930s, Hughes
became increasingly involved in radical politics and joined
the American Communist Party because of its claim to represent
all races equally in its working-class solidarity. These connections
haunted Hughes during Senator Joseph McCarthy's red scare
of the 1950s: Hughes was called to testify before the House
Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) in 1953 and was considered
a security risk by the FBI until 1959. During the 1950s he
completed several memorable anthologies, including The
First Book of Negros (1952), The First Book of Jazz
(1955), and The Book of Negro Folklore (1958).
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