Langston, a Play

"Langston" is a 1982 play by OSSIE DAVIS that rolls along, just like the view of the Mississippi River out the train window in the cover illustration by Jerry Pinkney: "I heard the singing of the Mississippi, all golden in the sunset . . . singing sorrow songs on the banks of a mighty river." Ossie Davis had a voice that thundered like Abraham, that touched one deep in the soul, clear down to the soles of one's feet. And he could write! He told of Langston Hughes taking over a play rehearsal and recreating his life: those "sad old weary blues." From Kansas where he lived with his grandmother, to Illinois, Mexico, to New York & Harlem, to Africa, to Paris and Harlem again; then Pennsylvania, where he graduated from college in 1929. When other men were jumping from buildings, Langston Hughes continued writing. "My soul has grown deep like the rivers." Many named in the play as influences in Langston Hughes' life, were revered by & quoted by my father: Frederick Douglass, Paul Laurence Dunbar, Countee Cullen, Thurgood Marshall, Mary McLeod Bethune; also white poets Vachel Lindsay & Edna St. Vincent Millay. Ossie Davis opened to us a view of a previous generation, somewhat like the view from that railroad car - - passing swiftly as in a dream. By coincidence I had again been reading the play before learning of Ossie Davis' death last week. I am grateful to him for sharing the stories of many dreams with play-goers and readers. Even more, Reviewer mcHAIKU is thankful for the lives of two great artists: Langston Hughes AND Ossie Davis.