Union County Freeholders Linda Carter and Bette Jane Kowalski joined Union County College President Dr. Margaret M. McMenamin in welcoming the Linden High School Madrigals to the presentation of “Music in the Life of Langston Hughes” at Union County College in Cranford.
Sponsored by the Union County Board of Chosen Freeholders and the Office of Cultural and Heritage Affairs in the Department of Parks and Recreation, the performance celebrated the birth of James Mercer Langston Hughes on Feb. 1, 1902, in Joplin, Missouri. Host Terrance McKnight presented a live adaptation of his radio documentary, “I, Too, Sing America: Music in the Life of Langston Hughes,” which was produced for WQXR, New York Public Radio.
Langston Hughes (1902-1967) was a poet, novelist, playwright and social activist. He was one of the earliest innovators of the then-new literary art form known as jazz poetry. Hughes loved music. He wrote songs, opera librettos and gospel plays, and traveled with his record collection. A longtime resident of Harlem in New York City, Langston Hughes also lived in Westfield, New Jersey in the early 1930’s.
The Linden High School Madrigals performed during event.
(Photo by Jim Lowney/County of Union)