Shakespeare of Harlem

I read in the papers about the Freedom Train. I heard on the radio about the Freedom Train. I seen folks talking about the Freedom Train. Lord, I've been awaiting for that Freedom Train. Destination Freedom.

The Chicago Defender and Station WMAQ bring you Destination Freedom, dramatizing the great democratic traditions of the Negro people, Interwoven in the Pageant of History and a part of America's own Destination Freedom. Today, Destination Freedom tells the story of the noted poet and playwright Langston Hughes in a chapter entitled Shakespeare of Harlem.

Oh, and I've been awaiting for that Freedom Train. He'd been waiting a long time for Freedom Train. He was a boy with a notebook and a habit of writing about trains. He was born poor in Joplin, Missouri.

He hadn't seen his father in so long he'd forgotten his face. He waited for the train to bring his father while he grew up back of the tracks in Kansas City, Cleveland, Buffalo, Chicago, Charleston, Joplin.

He waited for the great day even when he moved with his mother from town to town from house to house, looking for cheaper rents in the wider world. He had been waiting 18 years for the sight of his father.

letter game. He tore it open and the letter spoke to him. My dear Langston, be ready to meet me today when my train comes through Cleveland. You will accompany me to Mexico for the summer.

You're going to be free from poverty and poor people. Tell your mother. Sign your father. I'm going to be free. He put the letter in his notebook with his stories and sketches. He was too happy to walk. He went running down Central Avenue. He ran into a restaurant where his mother worked. He got up to the counter and he waited while she called for orders.