Langston Hughes Historical Background

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So no animals or people were eating enough food because the camp had to many prisoners so there wasn’t enough food to go around between all of the prisoners. Also the prisoner were “regularly chained” (Center for Prison Reforms). Sometimes they were chained in a closet and they were left there for a long period of time without food and water. If a prisoner was mentally ill, they were “held in the general population with no treatments available to them.” (Center for Prison Reforms).

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Many of them worked in factories, construction projects, farms or coal mines. Their work day would be 12-14 hours, with no break. If the prisoners slowed or stopped work, they were beaten. Others processed the belongings that had been taken away when prisoners arrived at camp.

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Lucky prisoners would find food lying around the camps or they would have people in their workplaces sneak them food. At night, prisoners would be given bread and a small piece of meat or cheese. The bread they were given was supposed to last them all night until the morning, so people would try to hide them in their beds, while they were asleep. The small rations were just meant to keep the prisoners alive so they weren’t completely starving. Many thousands of prisoners died from starvation or the illnesses caused by the lack of nutrition.

In total there was about 900 concentration camps about 23 main camps but and each of those camps had other subcamps. When the jews arrived at the camp they made them give them all of their clothes and all their belongings anything that showed identity. Then they went to the barber and their head was shaved and they were given a card with their camp number. Than they were showered and given clothing and maybe a blanket. In the morning you were given very little to “eat”, either herbal tea of coffee, for lunch some very watered down soup, and at dinner with some black bread, maybe with some sausage,margin, or cheese.

Langston Hughes was born on February 1, 1902 in Joplin, Missouri. He was the only son of James Nathaniel Hughes. His Father was absent for most of his youth and did not want to have anything to do with black culture. Then Hughes was brought to his grandmothers, Mary Langston. Her house was in Lawrence, Kansas and his mother, Carrie lived with them.

labor. The prisoners were separated into two groups of those who will live and those who will be sentenced to death. Those who were spared were fed meals that had no nutritional value. Eventually the prisoners were transferred to another work camp which had better conditions.

Daily Life at Concentration Camps Starving, cold, unclothed, sick, and hard working people were all put in concentration camps and treated horribly. The Jewish workers worked hard all day everyday or else they would get killed. The way the Nazi’s treated the Jews was extremely bad, the Jews would not get food, clothes, beds, and other necessities. There were all types of camps that had all kinds of jobs, you were assigned a job and didn 't get to pick a job. The Jews had a very compact schedule, they were busy all day, never any time to waste.

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His father ended up moving to Mexico. His mother moved all around the United States. Hughes was raised by his Grandmother for most of his childhood. He eventually moved in with his mother at age 13 to Illinois. This time in his life Hughes started to be inspired by poetry.

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