Black Thunder tind 100 Years of NegronFreedom and the Broadway play St,nLouis Woman, which was attacked bynWalter White and other black leadersnfor allegedly perpetuating the demeaningnstereotype of the peasant Negro.nLangston Hughes has been called thenfirst black American to earn his livingnentirely from writing. He wrote SelectednPoems, The Big Sea, I Wandernas I Wander, the lyrics to Street Scenenand three volumes of his famous “Simple”nbooks. Jesse Simple was a Harlemnfictional character who viewed thenworld from a weekly column in ThenChicago Defender and other blacknnewspapers.nThe experiences of black Americans,nHughes observed, have produced thenfolklore—the language and feeling—ofnblack America. He wrote: “… thenpeople who are apart from the mainnstream of life develop certain ways ofntalking, certain social characteristicsnof their own …” The French scholarnJean Wagner summed up Hughes’snachievement in these terms: “Instinctivelynin perfect harmony with the temperamentnof the black masses in thenhuge cities of our day … he wasnuniquely successful in capturing everynsubtlety in the atavistic rhythms thatncharacterize his race …”nContemporary black leaders who arguenthat the situation of black Americansnis unchanged from the past shouldncarefully read these letters. In 1925,nwhen the correspondence began, blacksnlived in a world of segregation andnmeager opportunities. When the correspondencencame to an end, Arna Bontempsnhad been named a member of thenIn the MailnNashville Library Committee and hadnbeen a guest lecturer at Peabody andnVanderbilt Universities. In 1966 henjoined the faculty of the University ofnIllinois. In 1969 he went to Yale. LangstonnHughes was hailed around thenworld as a distinguished American author,nlecturing across the country andnin Europe and Africa.nBoth Hughes and Bontemps foundnthemselves used by communist groupsnduring the years before and duringnWorld War II. In 1932 a contingent ofntwo dozen American Negroes were recruitednby the communists to make anfilm. Black and White, which was intendednto show the horrors of the capitalistnworld, beginning with the slaventrade. In his own memoirs, black conservativenGeorge Schuyler recalls: “ThenNegroes recruited to act in this filmnknew nothing about acting, nor did theirnleader, Langston Hughes. But the wholenproject was widely publicized and at antime when the American stage was virtuallynbarred to Negroes, except innvaudeville and Negro musical comedies.nHowever, when Langston Hughes hadnlabored over the film script, and all wasnready for the shooting, the Reds postponednproduction and the film never wasnmade. Henry Lee Moon and TheodorenPoston returned and explained that thenfilm postponement was due to the desirenof Stalin to curry favor with the UnitednStates, with an eye to eventual diplomaticnrecognition …”nAlso in the 1930’s, Hughes was involvednwith the communist-dominatednmovement to defend Angelo Herndonnand the Scottsboro boys, which led himnto sign a letter calling for the removalnIrish Poetry from Moore to Yeats by Robert Welch; Gill and Macmillan, Barnes &nNoble Books; Totowa, New Jersey. An examination of the works of seven of the mostnsignificant Irish poets of the 19th century.nSquid Soup by Michael Mooney; Story Press; Chicago, Illinois. A collection of shortnstories written by a doctor of medieval literature.nnnof George Schuyler from his positionnwith the Pittsburgh Courier. At thatntime Hughes was president of thenLeague for the Struggle for NegronRights, which was described by Schuylernand others as “a Communist front.” Itnwas a period during which the AmericannCommunist Party was making everyneffort to recruit black Americans, anneffort which largely failed. At a 1925nKremlin meeting with several blackncommunists, Joseph Stalin asked whynblacks, “the most oppressed section ofnthe American working class,” were notnbetter represented in the CommunistnParty and was told that it was due ton”prejudice and discrimination.” ThenCommunist Party thus began to call fornthe creation of black self-determinationnin a so-called “Black Belt” in the UnitednStates while what most blacks wantednwas integration into an open and freensociety. Professor Harvey Klehr writes:n”The Communist Party was never ablento recruit a significant percentage ofnthe American black community into itsnranks. Dramatic episodes such as thenScottsboro case sometimes resulted inna small influx, but most blacks were notnattracted by the party’s role in defendingnaccused blacks or promoting blackncommunists . . . .” Neither Hughes nornBontemps ever actually joined the CommunistnParty. In 1941, Bontemps urgednHughes to write a report about his Moscownvisit since he “might catch the tidenat the full about this time next year …nI look for a number of books designednto correct all the bitter feelings causednby the Finland business and the Hitlernpact . . .”In general, international politics—orneven politics within the UnitednStates—play small part in this correspondence.nMost of it is personal, discussionsnof lack of funds, the difficulty ofnliterary success. The names of the greatnliterary figures of our time cross thesenpages, both black and white. Hughes hadna close relationship with many leadingnwriters, among them Carson McCullersnand Katherine Ann Porter. Yet discriminationnwas widespread, even in selfproclaimednliberal literary circles in theni^M^^HB^HaSSnJanttary/Fcbruary 1981n