Release date: April 7, 2004
Contact: Deb Hammacher, Associate Director, University Media Relations,
at 404-727-0644 or dhammac@emory.edu

Emory Hosts Langston Hughes Symposium, Open Exhibit April 14

WHO: Scholars from across the United States will discuss the noted Harlem Renaissance writer Langston Hughes.

WHAT: "Langston Hughes: Poet of the People"

WHEN: Wednesday, April 14, 4-6 p.m. symposium; 6-7:30 p.m. exhibition opening

WHERE: Symposium: Jones Room, Woodruff Library, 540 Asbury Circle, Emory. Exhibition opening: Special Collections & Archives, 10th floor, Woodruff Library.

COST: Free and open to the public. Parking in Fishburne visitor parking. For directions and map, go to: www.emory.edu/WWW/directions.html. For more information, call 404-727-7620.

A panel of distinguished Hughes scholars will discuss "Langston Hughes: Poet of the People" at a symposium at Emory University in the Joseph W. Jones Room, Level 3, Woodruff Library, 540 Asbury Circle, on the Emory campus. The presentations are expected to break new ground in Hughes scholarship, particularly related to understanding Hughes' political engagement, including with prominent African-Americans on the political left. The moderator will be Lawrence P. Jackson, professor of English and African-American studies at Emory and the author of "Ralph Ellison: Emergence of Genius."

Panelists:
• Donna Akiba Sullivan Harper, dean of undergraduate studies and professor of English, Spelman College: "Langston Hughes as Literary Figure: An Overview"
• Thomas H. Wirth, independent scholar, bibliophile and publisher: "Richard Bruce Nugent and Langston Hughes: Narrative of a Friendship" (Wirth was a partner of the late Bruce Nugent, with whom Hughes had created the Harlem Renaissance journal, FIRE!!)
• Valerie Boyd, author of "Wrapped in Rainbows: The Life of Zora Neale Hurston" (2003): "Zora and Langston"
• MaryLouise Patterson, M.D., associate professor of clinical pediatrics, Cornell-Weill Medical College, N.Y., and daughter of Louise Thompson and William Patterson: "Langston: Forty Years of Friendship, Struggles, and Ideas with Louise and William Patterson" (Louise Thompson Patterson's papers are at Emory)
• Evelyn Louise Crawford, art consultant, San Francisco, and daughter of Matt N. Crawford and Evelyn Graves Crawford: "Langston Hughes: Friend and Comrade--California Days with the Crawfords" (the Crawford papers are at Emory)

The exhibition curators are Lawrence P. Jackson, Folashadé Alao and Pellom McDaniels III and the exhibition includes materials on loan from the personal collection of Thomas H. Wirth.

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