Langston Huges' NOT WITHOUT LAUGHTER-Do NOT go WITHOUT Reading this Literary Masterpiece

Langston Hughes (b. Amer  1902-67) was a a brilliant novelist & poet, playwright, jazz innovator and a strong advocate for social justice.  NOT WITHOUT LAUGHTER is considered is his finest prose written in the dialect of the time.  It addresses a shameful epoch in our history from slavery, to segregation, Jim Crow south and racial suppression.  The genius of Hughes writing in is the voice of its young, central character Sandy. Sandy is born & raised in a small Kansas town into a household of women; mother, 2 aunts & his hard working grandmother, Haeger who lived as a slave. His feckless father Jimboy is a rare presence in his life.  Through Sandy's young eyes and maturing years we feel his growing sensitivity to the disparities between between blacks & whites. Sandy continually confronts imposed barriers and relentless humiliations.  The social hierarchy within the black community is also noted. We feel the crushing indignity and helplessness of Sandy & his friends when barred from the town carnival.  Aunt Harriet makes her feelings towards whites clear, "It don't matter to them if we're shut out of a job. It don't matter to them if niggers have only the back row at the movies. It don't matter to them when they hurt our feelings without caring and treat us like slaves down South and like beggars up North.  No it don't matter to them…White folks run the world…O, I hate em."  Hughes' prose captures life in the early 20th C; its heartaches & joys.  Haeger, once a slave, has the most powerful message "Honey, there ain't no room in de world fo' hate, white folks hatin' niggers, an' niggers hatin' white folks. There ain't no room in this world for nothin' but love, Sandy child. That's all they's room fo'-nothin' but love."  NOT WITHOUT LAUGHTER is a masterpiece.  It should be read alongside Twain & Ellison in schools.  This work of genius must not be overlooked.