The Weary Blues

With a new introduction by poet and editor Kevin Young, this celebratory edition of The Weary Blues reminds us of the stunning achievement of Langston Hughes.

Hughes—who was just twenty-four at the time of The Weary Blues's first appearance—spoke directly, intimately, and powerfully of the experiences of African Americans at a time when their voices were newly being heard in American literature, beginning with the opening “Proem” (prologue poem)—“I am a Negro: / Black as the night is black, ...