This e-Book presents the text of the edition chosen for inclusion here but does not attempt to reproduce every feature of their typographic design. The text is reprinted without change, except for the correction of typographical errors. Spelling, punctuation, and capitalization are often expressive features, and they are not altered, even when inconsistent or irregular. The following is a list of typographical errors corrected, cited by page and line number: 5.22, won’t.; 14.5, ‘Get; 21.23, outside!; 22.19, ’Does; 22.20, right!; 77.35, passengers,; 131.25, dear;’; 139.35, Lawrence; 175.19–20, Chestnut’s; 175.21, Lawrence; 165.36, Old-timy; 185.3, Tempy’s.
Notes
In the notes below, the reference numbers denote page and line of the print edition; the line count includes titles and headings but not blank lines. Notes are not generally made for material found in standard desk-reference works. For additional information and references to other studies, see: Nathan Irvin Huggins, Harlem Renaissance (New York: Oxford University Press, 1971); David Levering Lewis, When Harlem Was in Vogue (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1980); Charles H. Nichols, ed., Arna Bontemps–Langston Hughes Letters, 1925–1967 (New York: Dodd, Mead, 1980); Arnold Rampersad, The Life of Langston Hughes, 2 vols. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1986–88); Steven Watson, The Harlem Renaissance: Hub of African-American Culture, 1920–1930 (New York: Pantheon, 1995).
2.2 J. E. and Amy Spingarn.] Joel Elias Spingarn (1875–1939) and his wife Amy Einstein Spingarn (1883–1980) were among Hughes’s patrons; he had attended Lincoln University with their financial help. Joel, a former Columbia professor of comparative literature, was elected president of the NAACP in 1930. Amy, an heiress and artist, published a limited edition of Hughes poems, Dear Lovely Death, at her Troutbeck Press in 1931.
32.21 dicty] African American slang: snobbish, high-class.
36.3–8 Throw yo’ arms . . . done!] Hughes’s adaptation of contemporary blues lyrics. A variant of the opening couplet, credited to Gus Cannon (c. 1883–1979), was recorded by the Memphis Jug Band in 1928 in “Stealin’ Stealin’”; see also the “Western Bound Blues” by Tampa Red (1904–1981), first recorded in 1932.
37.29 Ada Walker’s] Ada (“Aïda”) Overton Walker (1880–1914), vaudeville dancer and choreographer.
38.10–11 I wonder where . . . watch in pawn.] See “I Wonder Where My Easy Rider’s Gone,” a 1913 blues song by Shelton Brooks (1886–1975).
39.6 parse me la] A dance step, also spelled pasmala, possumala, or pas ma la, possibly from the French pas mêlé, or mixed step. Ernest Hogan (1859–1909), a minstrel performer, published the song “La Pas Ma La” in 1895 and is credited with popularizing the dance.
40.35 Casey Jones] Folk ballad about railroad engineer Casey Jones (1863–1900), written by Wallace Saunders and first published in 1909.
41.7 W. C. Handy] Alabama-born musician and composer (1873–1958), sometimes referred to as “father of the blues.”
64.28 Sen Sens] Licorice-flavored candies used as a breath freshener.
68.34–35 St. Louis Blues] 1914 twelve-bar blues song by W. C. Handy.
69.21 Memphis . . . Yellow Dog] Blues songs by W. C. Handy, first published in 1912 and 1915, respectively.
72.21 P. I.] Pimp.
118.24 Dear Old Southland] Popular song (1921) with words by Harry Creamer (1879–1930) and music by Turner Layton (1894–1978).
126.9 “Layovers to catch meddlers.”] A widely varying traditional phrase, persistent especially in the South, used to evade impertinently curious questions.
159.33 balling-the-jack.] From “Ballin’ the Jack,” a 1913 dance instruction song with words by James Henry (Jim) Burris (1874–1923) and music by Chris Smith (1879–1949).
167.38–39 Dark was the night . . . ground] African American spiritual based on a 1792 hymn by Thomas Haweis (1734–1820); a version by Blind Willie Johnson (1897–1945) was recorded in 1927.
174.16–17 Senator Bruce . . . Frederick Douglass.] Blanche Kelso Bruce (1841–1898), senator from Mississippi, 1875–81; John Mercer Langston (1829–1897), congressman from Virginia, 1890–91 (and Langston Hughes’s great uncle); Pinckney Benton Stewart Pinchback (1837–1921), Louisiana governor, 1872–73 (and maternal grandfather of Jean Toomer); and abolitionist Frederick Douglass (c. 1818–1895).
175.16–18 some modern novels . . . Gene Stratton Porter] Tempy’s novels and favored novelists were all bestsellers: The Rosary (1909), by English romantic writer Florence L. Barclay (1862–1921); The Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come (1903), by Kentucky-born John Fox Jr. (1862–1919); Harold Bell Wright (1872–1944), prolific popular novelist, and Gene Stratton-Porter (1863–1924), Indiana novelist most often remembered for A Girl of the Limberlost (1909).
183.12–13 all beat up like Jim Jeffries . . . Jack Johnson] On July 4, 1910, in what came to be known as the “fight of the century,” former heavyweight boxing champion James J. Jeffries (1875–1953) was defeated by the African American current champion Jack Johnson (1878–1946). Jeffries was billed as the “Great White Hope”; widespread rioting followed Johnson’s victory.
183.14 sweet-papa Stingaree’s] See “Stingaree Blues” (1920), by Clinton A. Kemp (b. 1895).
187.15–16 The Doors of Life] See The Doors of Life; or, Little Studies in Self-Healing (1909), by Walter DeVoe.
192.24–25 Love, O love . . . wine!] From the traditional song “Careless Love”; a popular blues version was recorded in 1925 by Bessie Smith (1894–1937).
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