![]() ![]() ![]() Hughes, who cited Paul Laurence Dunbar, Carl Sandburg, and Walt Whitman as his primary influences, is particularly known for his insightful portrayals of Black life in America from the 1920s to the 1960s. In 1930 his first novel, Not Without Laughter (Knopf, 1930), won the Harmon gold medal for literature. He finished his college education at Lincoln University in Pennsylvania three years later. Criticism of the book from the time varied, with some praising the arrival of a significant new voice in poetry, while others dismissed Hughes’s debut collection. Knopf in 1926 with an introduction by Harlem Renaissance arts patron Carl Van Vechten. Hughes’s first book of poetry, The Weary Blues, (Knopf, 1926) was published by Alfred A. In November 1924, he moved to Washington, D.C. He also traveled to Africa and Europe working as a seaman. During this time, he worked as an assistant cook, a launderer, and a busboy. It was in Lincoln that Hughes began writing poetry.Īfter graduating from high school, he spent a year in Mexico followed by a year at Columbia University. He then moved to Lincoln, Illinois, to live with his mother and her husband, before the family eventually settled in Cleveland. He was raised by his maternal grandmother, Mary Sampson Patterson Leary Langston, who was nearly seventy when Hughes was born, until he was thirteen. ![]() Hughes’s birth year was revised from 1902 to 1901 after new research from 2018 uncovered that he had been born a year earlier. His parents, James Nathaniel Hughes and Carrie Langston Hughes, divorced when he was a young child, and his father moved to Mexico. And while it’s not fair or accurate to pin the gentrification of DC on a single restaurant, particularly one owned by an individual who has taken deliberate steps to work with neighborhoods and city leaders to mitigate the negative impacts of development, the question persists on how can Busboys pay homage to black history and culture without also leading to a wave of development that negatively impacts the very people it celebrates.James Mercer Langston Hughes was born on February 1, 1901, in Joplin, Missouri. ![]() With new development, comes increased home prices, higher rents and property taxes, and a wave of new younger wealthier residents moving into neighborhoods with money to burn on $15 cocktails, boutique fitness, and swanky restaurants. Often, Shallal has partnered with developers who would financially support building a space to his vision knowing that the enthusiasm for Busboys would help draw people to the development. Busboy and Poets would open in one of the DC's up and coming neighborhoods and serve as the anchor of new development and a magnet drawing additional businesses to follow. It’s not the food that draws you to Busboys but the atmosphere, with a lively bar area and communal tables that encourage conversation.īusboys has become synonymous with gentrification as Washington DC has transformed from the square and swampish center of government and power to the cool and hip center of government and power. The food is quite good, though nobody would describe it as a culinary destination, with a menu that will appeal to vegans, vegetarians, and meat-eaters alike featuring benedicts, omelets and other breakfast staples sandwiches, soups, burgers, salads, a handful of entrees and interesting world cuisine items, and several kids choices. But visit on a Sunday at noon and it’s just like any other bustling restaurant buzzing with conversations serving pancakes or corn beef hash to tables full of young professionals, families with children, or retirees. Busboys and Poets is named after American Poet Langston Hughes, who worked as a busboy at the Wardman Park Hotel in the 1920s prior to gaining recognition as a poet. The bookstore selection showcases books whose authors have contributed to conversations concerning great social struggles and the event space regularly hosts poetry slams, book readings, jazz and open mic nights. But its more than just a restaurant, it’s a coffee shop by day and a bar at night. It’s a full-service restaurant serving breakfast, lunch, and dinner with a side of social justice. Busboys and Poets describes itself as a community gathering place that serves as of a progressive and cultural hub for artists, activists, writers, thinkers, and dreamers. As does a rotating selection of artwork from local artists. Murals of Martin Luther King Jr., Nelson Mandela, and Barack Obama adorn the walls of Busboys and Poets locations throughout the greater Washington DC area. ![]()
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