By MICHELLE SELLERS

One hundred years ago this past Feb.1, a baby cried out with a voice that would mature, learn the music of poetry, bend the poetry with a political consciousness, inspire a Queens neighborhood to build a library, and then inspire the U.S. Postal Service to mail his image across the nation.

That voice belonged to James Langston Hughes.

The Harlem Renaissance poet and writer of all literary genres, was honored with his own stamp this week, unveiled at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem and scheduled to be introduced at a special celebration at the Langston Hughes Library and Cultural Center in East Elmhurst this weekend.

A politically conscious artist, Hughes spoke of race relations in America through his plays, poetry and short story collections and essays. "Little Ham," one of "Five Plays by Langston Hughes," opened in November 2001 as an off-Broadway production at the Hudson Guild Theatre inspired by the literary work.

He was born in Joplin, Missouri and, after his parents, divorce, was raised by his grandmother until he was 12. Then he moved to Illinois to live with his mother and, during his high school years, he began writing poetry. After high school, he spent a year with his father in Mexico and a year at Columbia University, supporting himself at odd jobs including assistant cook and busboy. He traveled to Africa and Europe as a seaman, and then settled his life down in Harlem in 1924. His first book, The Weary Blues, was published in 1926 and three years later he graduated from Lincoln University in Pennsylvania.

Hughes passed away on May 22, 1967, but the social voice and creativity that made his name a landmark in American literature is still alive in the Queens Library that bears his name.

Upon entering the Langston Hughes Library and Cultural Center one will view Charles Lilly’s portrait of Hughes, and feel at home in the relaxed mood set by earth tones, natural lighting, soft cushion seating and wood finishings.

The Center’s Executive Director Andrew Jackson explained, "The center was created to emulate Hughes who wrote for every epsilon on the black family, adults and children alike in plays, poetry, essays, biographies."

Hughes became the poet laureate of the Harlem Renaissance through his humorous and political statements depicting the "climate and conditions suffered by African Americans in the United States," Jackson said adding Hughes Library attempts "to serve the community in the same light."

It was community activism and determination that made the Langston Hughes Community Library and Cultural Center. In a recent interview with the PRESS, Borough President Helen Marshall recalled when her family first moved into the neighborhood and her children were shocked at it’s small library. Marshall became a member of the Friends of the Libraries, and then she got to work organizing and pushing to create a place of reading, learning and history.

Dedicated civic leaders joined with her in the cause and through the persistence and dedication of the Corona and East Elmhurst community, a monumental library institution reflective of black history opened in a store front library on Northern Boulevard in 1969.

"There were no [suitable] libraries in Queens in the 60s," Jackson explained. The Action Committee had decided on a building located at 102-09 Northern Blvd. and for 30 years it housed their dream.

In the early 1970s, the Library needed to present formal programming plans to the State Council on the Arts and the City Department of Cultural Affairs if it wanted funding. That’s when the neighborhood got creative, designing programs that used literature and art to foster creative learning through a montage of workshops, independent film festivals, art exhibits and music concerts, according to Jackson.

The Langston Hughes Library went on to become the first library to receive funding from the New York City Board of Education for a program outside the school system, Jackson said.

And 16 years after the center’s grand opening, the branch was made a part of the Queens Borough Public Library System in October 1987 and since has provided over 40,000 volumes of circulated material.

"The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture is as important to Manhattan as the New York Public Library . . . the Langston Hughes Community Library is as important to Queens as the Queens Borough Public Library" system, Jackson said.

The two institutions carry most of the same material, yet material at Harlem’s Schomburg Center can not circulate. "We work hand in hand to serve the community in a broader sense," Jackson said, adding, "an appointment is needed to view the collection or research," at the Schomburg Center and not the Langston Hughes Library.

A need for space lead to the design of a new institution in 1997. After 30 years, the library decided to give African American architectural design firms a chance to layout a new 24,000 square foot facility. "African American architects were purposely chosen to ensure minority architects were able to bid in the project just like any other architects in the City," Jackson said.

"The new Langston Hughes Community Library and Cultural Center was to represent Hughes by being an oasis of knowledge and culture while servicing the Queens Community," Jackson explained, and today its modern and elegant design does just that.

"The Langston Hughes Community Library and Cultural Center is more user- friendly in accessing material," Jackson explained about the library branch, which was designed to be more accessible to the community at large.

Circulated material, which can be obtained by persons holding a Queens Public Library card, include books, CD-roms, cassettes, pamphlets, videos, as well as thesis and dissertations by graduate and post-graduate students whom reflected on African American literature.

Artwork displayed throughout the building is a "collection of art in our culture from African, Caribbean and African American" artists, Jackson noted.

In the 17 years that Jackson has served as director, he has introduced cultural and learning initiatives that include an annual Kwanzaa celebration, a commemorative birthday celebration for Langston Hughes, a multi-cultural art expo, and City Council and State Assembly family day at P.S. 127.

Monthly scheduled open mic nights bring artists of all entertainment genres to the Queens cultural center, and the daily after school homework help program services approximately 100 children daily from area schools.

According to the Queens Borough Public Library’s website, the Hughes Library collection, "estimated at over 40,000 volumes of print and non-print materials making it the largest circulating collection on Black Experience in any public library within New York State, informing both children and adults about Black people in the U.S. and around the globe."

Housed in the Library are the Langston Hughes Art Collection, The Adele Cohen Music Collection and The Black Heritage Reference Center.

Over the next 20 years, Jackson hopes to expand the library and cultural center to span the entire block of 101st Street in Corona.

The plan will come full circle after more "patronage is generated with financial support," Jackson said. The building currently has a state of the art auditorium, elevators, an out door courtyard, for spring and summer events under its two-story architecture.

"Our current building is not large enough therefore our potential is limited," Jackson said. "Additional support is needed for cultural arts activities to reflect the change in the community."

The stamp to honor Hughes was issued last week in celebration of the centennial of his birth February 1, as well as the start of Black History Month.

The stamp is part of the Black Heritage commemorative stamp series.

At an event held on Feb. 7 to honor Hughes’ 100th Birthday, Helen Marshall, Queens’ first African American Borough President, said "I am especially pleased that this year’s celebration honors the work and life of Langston Hughes, a great poet novelist, playwright and journalist."

To celebrate Hughes’ birth, poet and Howard University professor E. Ethelbert Miller will speak on the impact of Hughes literary work as well as share his original work.

Author Holger Henke, will read excerpts from his novel "West Indian Americans" following a piano concerto featuring Ragtime theme music.

The Langston Hughes Community Library and Cultural Center is located at 100-01 Northern Blvd. in Corona.

For more information, call 651-1100. 

Black Heritage Reference Center
(718) 651-7116
Information & Referral Service
(718) 672-8313
Homework Assistance Program
(718) 672-2710