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My People

By Langston Hughes
Illustrated by Charles R. Smith Jr.

About The Book

This Coretta Scott King Award-winning photography book based on Langston Hughes’s classic poem is perfect for kids and moving and powerful for readers of all ages.

Langston Hughes’​s spare yet eloquent tribute to his people has been cherished for generations. Now, acclaimed photographer Charles R. Smith Jr. interprets this beloved poem in vivid sepia photographs that capture the glory, the beauty, and the soul of being a black American today.

About The Author
Langston Hughes

Langston Hughes (1902–1967) was born in Joplin, Missouri, and lived much of his life in Harlem, New York. As one America’s most cherished chroniclers of the black experience, known for his work during the Harlem Renaissance, Hughes’s work was constantly groundbreaking throughout his forty-six-year career. His poetry about the ocean and the symbolism that surrounds it stems from his travels through Africa and Europe working as a seaman.

About The Illustrator
Photograph courtesy of the Author
Charles R. Smith Jr.

Charles R. Smith Jr. is an acclaimed poet and the Coretta Scott King Award–winning illustrator of My People, a picture book based on the poem by Langston Hughes. He is also the illustrator of If, the author and photographer of I Am the World, and he won the Coretta Scott King Author Honor for his book Twelve Rounds To Glory. He grew up in California and attended the Brooks Institute of Photography. A magazine and book cover photographer in addition to a picture book creator, Charles lives with his wife and kids in Poughkeepsie, New York. Visit him at CharlesRSmithJr.com.

Product Details
  • Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers (January 6, 2009)
  • Length: 40 pages
  • ISBN13: 9781416935407
  • Grades: P - 3
  • Ages: 4 - 8

Browse Related Books

Awards and Honors
  • ALA Notable Children's Books
  • CCBC Choices (Cooperative Children's Book Council)
  • NYPL 100 Titles for Reading and Sharing
  • ALA Coretta Scott King Award for Illustration
  • Capital Choices Noteworthy Books for Children's and Teens (DC)
  • NCTE Notable Children's Books in the Language Arts
  • Kirkus Best Children's Book
  • Bank Street Best Books of the Year - with Outstanding Merit
  • Maryland Blue Crab Young Reader Award Honor Book
  • Cleveland Public Library Celebrate With Books Selection

Resources and Downloads

Activity Sheets

Poetry Brochure (feat. favorite S&S authors) (pdf)

High Resolution Images

My People

By Langston Hughes
Illustrated by Charles R. Smith Jr.

More books from this author: Langston Hughes

More books from this illustrator: Charles R. Smith Jr.