19-02-2025
Joplin museum honors Langston Hughes with new exhibit
JOPLIN, Mo. — A new exhibit at the Joplin History Museum is dedicated to Joplin native and African American poet, Langston Hughes.
'He went on to do amazing and great things,' said Chris Wiseman, Joplin History Museum curator.
Langston Hughes, the focus this Black History Month at the Joplin History Museum.
It opened a temporary exhibit called, Harlem Renaissance and the Renaissance Man.
It highlights the life and work of the Joplin native.
'He was a poet, a novelist, a musician. He was one of the key players in the Harlem Renaissance movement,' said Wiseman.
Hughes was also one of the foremost interpreters of race relations in the US, from the 1920s through the 1960s.
'I've talked to some of the teachers in the community, and some of them, when they think Black history here in the Four States, you know, George Washington Carver comes to mind. A lot of people don't know there were other African American greats right here from our area, and Langston Hughes being one of them. So it's nice he's finally getting the recognition he deserves,' said Tierra Haws, Langston Hughes Cultural Society president.
The center of the exhibit is a panel display featuring collaborations and connections between Langston Hughes and Gordon Parks, who was also a highly influential figure in the African American community during that time.
'It shows from a time when there was so much hate, that this man took that pain from his life and turned it into such amazing, beautiful things. I think that's the most remarkable thing of all,' said Wiseman.
The display highlights and explores the history, journey, and friendship of the two men.
Hughes, a poet — and Parks, a photographer.
Both men, still today, considered leading voices through their art.
'My daughter, she read one of the poems and it had the word 'negro' in it, and she was like, 'Mom, I can't say that word,' and so it opens the world to education so that there's more. They're not just words on a paper, you have to hear those words,' said Haws.
The exhibit will be on display through April.
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