1058: the tom-tom of revolt against weariness in a white world (important announcements too)

Day 1058: Tuesday, February 7, 2023

the eternal tom-tom beating in the Negro soul—the tom-tom of revolt against weariness in a white world, a world of subway trains, and work, work, work; the tom-tom of joy and laughter, and pain swallowed in a smile.”

- Langston Hughes

The Negro Speaks of Rivers written by Langston Hughes at the age of 17

I’ve known rivers:

I’ve known rivers ancient as the world and older than the flow of human blood in human veins.

My soul has grown deep like the rivers.

I bathed in the Euphrates when dawns were young.

I built my hut near the Congo and it lulled me to sleep.

I looked upon the Nile and raised the pyramids above it.

I heard the singing of the Mississippi when Abe Lincoln went down to New Orleans, and I’ve seen its muddy bosom turn all golden in the sunset.

I’ve known rivers:

Ancient, dusky rivers.

My soul has grown deep like the rivers.

May 22 marks the 1967 passing of one of America’s foremost literary giants: James Mercer Langston Hughes. Born in February 1901 in Joplin, Missouri, Langston Hughes would publish his first poem, “The Negro Speaks of Rivers,” in the June 1921 issue of The Crisis, the magazine of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Hughes would go on to become a leading light of the Harlem Renaissance, publishing not only poetry, but essays, plays, novels, and short stories, as well.

Langston Hughes was never far from jazz. He listened to it at nightclubs, collaborated with musicians from Monk to Mingus, often held readings accompanied by jazz combos, and even wrote a children’s book called The First Book of Jazz. For Hughes, jazz was a way of life.

He was, of course, not an ordinary jazz fan simply enamored with the sound. A vocal proponent of racial consciousness, the poet considered jazz and the blues to be uniquely African-American art forms, both of which spurned the desire for assimilation and acceptance by white culture, and instead rejoiced in black heritage and creativity. Rather than wish away daily hardship, the blues instead elevated the troubles of the workaday African American into art. As he wrote in his 1926 story “The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain”:

“But jazz to me is one of the inherent expressions of Negro life in America; the eternal tom-tom beating in the Negro soul—the tom-tom of revolt against weariness in a white world, a world of subway trains, and work, work, work; the tom-tom of joy and laughter, and pain swallowed in a smile.”

“The Weary Blues”

Droning a drowsy syncopated tune,

Rocking back and forth to a mellow croon,

I heard a Negro play.

Down on Lenox Avenue the other night

By the pale dull pallor of an old gas light

He did a lazy sway . . .

He did a lazy sway . . .

To the tune o’ those Weary Blues.

With his ebony hands on each ivory key

He made that poor piano moan with melody.

O Blues!

Swaying to and fro on his rickety stool

He played that sad raggy tune like a musical fool.

Sweet Blues!

Coming from a black man’s soul.

O Blues!

In a deep song voice with a melancholy tone

I heard that Negro sing, that old piano moan—

“Ain’t got nobody in all this world,

Ain’t got nobody but ma self.

I’s gwine to quit ma frownin’

And put ma troubles on the shelf.”

Thump, thump, thump, went his foot on the floor.

He played a few chords then he sang some more—

“I got the Weary Blues

And I can’t be satisfied.

Got the Weary Blues

And can’t be satisfied—

I ain’t happy no mo’

And I wish that I had died.”

And far into the night he crooned that tune.

The stars went out and so did the moon.

The singer stopped playing and went to bed

While the Weary Blues echoed through his head.

He slept like a rock or a man that’s dead.

Announcement #1: Beth Jordan's Memorial

Beth Jordan’s memorial service is scheduled for Saturday, March 18th at Glaser Center at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Santa Rosa. The address is 547 Mendocino Ave, Santa Rosa, CA 95401

The Sanctuary has been reserved for the Memorial from 1pm to 3pm. Beth’s sister Tracy has rented the social hall from 12 noon to 6 pm (although she might back it off to 12:30 to 5:30) There will be a catered reception after the service in the style of high tea.

Mary Ramerman will preside. Victoria will decorate the altar and supply flowers and wine for the celebration. Tracy said she will ask Peter to make his bread for Eucharist.

To Live Non-Violence: Day 8 of 64

Vigil for Justice: