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Langston Hughes' poetry celebrates Black culture and addresses racism in America

Langston Hughes is best known for writing powerful poetry and prose. Less known is that he was also a librettist. At a 1957 visit to the University of Illinois, he gave a poetry reading and attended the premiere of the opera “Esther.”

Jim Meadows of WILL in Illinois has the story.

This article was originally published on WBUR.org.

Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

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