Langston Hughes' Food Thoughts
Courtesy of New York Public Library
Langston Hughes was born in 1902 in Joplin Missouri. He grew up in Lawrence, Kansas, and several other Midwestern communities, at the turn of the century before making his way to Harlem. He served as a war correspondent in Spain during the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939). Reflecting on eating hardships in Madrid during the War and what he missed most about home, Hughes wrote “I found myself thinking a great deal about hamburgers, hot dogs, sugared doughnuts and ice cream—things one can get on almost any American Corner. . . .”