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Langston Hughes' poetry celebrates Black culture, addresses racism in America

Poet and writer Langston Hughes in  1945. (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
Poet and writer Langston Hughes in 1945. (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Langston Hughes was born 120 years ago. He’s best known for writing powerful poetry and prose. Less known is that he was also a librettist.

At a 1957 visit to the University of Illinois, he gave a poetry reading and attended the premiere of the opera “Esther.”

Jim Meadows of WILL in Illinois has the story.

This article was originally published on WBUR.org.

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