BORN IN JOPLIN, MISSOURI, ON FEBRUARY 1, 1902, HUGHES LIVED IN LAWRENCE FROM 1903 TO 1915. HIS BOOK, þNOT WITHOUT LAUGHTER,ú IS A FICTIONALIZED ACCOUNT OF HIS BITTERSWEET CHILDHOOD IN LAWRENCE, SAYS MARYEMMA GRAHAM, KU PROFESSOR OF ENGLISH AND CONFERENCE CO-ORGANIZER.

THE SYMPOSIUM WILL INCLUDE PERFORMANCES OF HUGHESÿ WORK, AN EXHIBIT OF HIS PAPERS, COMMUNITY EVENTS THROUGHOUT LAWRENCE, AND RELATED EVENTS AT THE AMERICAN JAZZ MUSEUM, 18TH AND VINE, IN KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI. MORE DETAILS ARE POSTED REGULARLY AT ON THE KU CONTINUING EDUCATION WEBSITE: HTTP://WWW.KUCE.ORG/HUGHES.

CONFERENCE ORGANIZERS HAVE RECEIVED A $75-HUNDRED GRANT FROM THE PUBLISHERS ALFRED A. KNOPF/VINTAGE BOOKS. SEVERAL K-U DEPARTMENTS ARE SUPPORTING THE EVENT. BUT GRAHAM SAYS AN ADDITIONAL $50,000 IS NEEDED TO OFFER THE ENTIRE CONFERENCE FREE TO THE PUBLIC.

GRAHAM SAYS THE CONFERENCE PROVIDES AN OPPORTUNITY TO RE-ESTABLISH HUGHESÿ CONNECTIONS TO KANSAS.

GRAHAM: þHughes wrote about Kansas. So this is that opportunity I think to give Kansas back to Langston and give Langston back to Kansas.ú (10 sec)

GRAHAM BELIEVES HUGHES FOUND A HOME IN LAWRENCEÿS CLOSE-KNIT BLACK COMMUNITY. SHE SAYS THIS EXPERIENCE SHAPED HIS WRITING.

GRAHAM: þHughes was probably our first writer to recognize the value of indigenous black culture: the music of the church, the music of the brothels, the barrooms and the Kansas City jazz.ú (15 sec)

IN 1926 HUGHES FIRST BOOK, þTHE WEARY BLUES,ú WAS PUBLISHED. GRAHAM SAYS THE AUTHOR INCORPORATED BLUES AND OTHER FORMS OF AFRICAN-AMERICAN CULTURE INTO HIS WRITING.

GRAHAM: þHe wrote jazz poems and he created gospel plays. These are forms that we now recognize but donÿt really think of them in relationship to the originator, the innovator that Hughes was. What we call vernacular poetry or spoken word art or hip hop -- thatÿs Langston Hughes.ú (18 sec)

GRAHAM SAYS HUGHESÿ WORK ENCOURAGED ETHNIC WRITERS TO CONSIDER THEIR OWN CULTURES.

GRAHAM: þAfrican-American writers, women writers, indigenous writers, Hispanic writers. These are writers who recognize the value of their own culture and art, but didnÿt have forms and didnÿt have a society that approved of it.ú (15 sec)

GRAHAM SAYS HUGHES MADE HIS LIVING STRICTLY AS A WRITER. IN ADDITION TO FICTION AND POETRY, HE WROTE NEWSPAPER COLUMNS, GAVE READINGS AT CHURCHES AND SOLD HIS BOOKS ON STREET CORNERS.

GRAHAM: þHe took his work from the people; he gave his work back to the people, and that is what I think I admire most about him. He didnÿt find any reason to compromise his talents, his experience, his beliefs.ú (15 sec)

GRAHAM BELIEVES THAT THIS CENTENNIAL BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION WILL BRING THE COMMUNITY TOGETHER FOR A LONG OVERDUE RECOGNITION.

GRAHAM: þSo our desire was to simply be the place where we would honor a man for a hundred years in this country and probably did not get his just due.ú (10 sec)