The Big Sea An Autobiography

About the book

This is a memoir of Langston Hughes' early life, his poignant childhood beset by an anti-black father and a mother emotionally injured by this betrayal, and his development as an artist. His continuous confrontations with the racism and hypocrisy give a personal and historical sense to his perception and analysis of American society. He describes the Harlem of his youth; his "discovery" as a poet; his constant struggles with the black middle class and their anti-black pathology; his matriculation at Lincoln; his travel as a merchant seaman to Africa and Europe; his bohemian days in Paris and Italy; and always the chronicle of black life, in whatever context, and its struggles. ISBN 0-938410-33-4 (pbk.): $8.95.