The Big Sea | The Big Sea

At a glance:

Author: Langston Hughes
First Published: 1940
Time of Work: 1902–1931
Setting: Kansas, Cleveland, Illinois, New York, Africa, Mexico, Paris, and Washington, D.C.
Principal Characters: Langston Hughes, Mrs. Hughes, James N. Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, Vachel Lindsay, Dr. Alain Locke
Genres: Nonfiction, Autobiography
Subjects: African Americans, Discrimination, Memory, Racism, Authors or writers, Harlem Renaissance, Manners or customs, Poetry or poets, Social life, Writing
Locales: Africa, New York, Mexico, Paris, France, Washington, D.C., Kansas, Cleveland, OH, Illinois

Langston Hughes’s autobiography, The Big Sea, is divided into three sections that cover his life up to the age of twenty-nine, when he was on the verge of being able to make his living strictly as a writer. The first section is entitled “Twenty-One” and begins as Hughes left New York as a mess boy on a ship bound for Africa. Upon his arrival, the Africans would not believe that he was a Negro. Hughes then traces his family history, which explains why he was not believed, as he had white ancestors and was not darkly colored. His lineage included a...

The Big Sea | The Big Sea

At a glance:

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