Langston Hughes' Black Nativity

Karamu alum, Langston Hughes, created what he called, “the Gospel Song-Play,” now known as “Black Nativity.” A Karamu favorite, this year’s production will return to its traditional roots in celebration of the birth of Christ in the town of Bethlehem.

“His tone has that intimate, elusive, near-tragic, near-comic sound of the Negro blues, and is equally defiant of analysis” is how a critic described this work by Langston Hughes, who mentions Paul Lawrence Dunbar, Carl Sandburg and Walt Whitman as his main literary influences. As a young man, Hughes participated enthusiastically in the activities of the Karamu Players in Cleveland, and later he was to found Negro theatres in Harlem, Los Angeles and Chicago.