Gender and race in Langston Hughes’ poetry of the Spanish Civil War

Abstract

African American poet Langston Hughes worked as a press correspondent during the Spanish civil war. This experience left an imprint in his production and particularly in his poetry, giving light to significant advances in his entwinement of race, gender, and identity. The acclaimed diversity of Hughes’ feminine models, and his inclusive stance find difficult accommodation in the poetic corpus about Spain. Using a critical appraisal of race, class and gender divisions, the poetic representation of female characters is discussed attending to their different forms of inclusion and exclusion. Their relationship with later developments in Hughes’ poetic construction of African American female agency is assessed, and the singularity of certain characters in the Spanish corpus is explored. Finally, conclusions are drawn to demonstrate the relevant and understudied contributions of this corpus for the better understanding of Hughes’ feminine universe as a whole.