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Fine Clothes to the Jew is a 1927 poetry collection by Langston Hughes published by Alfred A. Knopf. Because it departed from sentimental depictions of African-American culture, the collection was widely criticized, especially in the Black press, when it was published.
May 7, 2023 · Langston Hughes, "Fine Clothes to the Jew" (1927) (Full Text) This digital edition of Hughes' poetry derives from a version on HathiTrust. It was cleaned up from OCR page image scans and formatted by Kate Hennessey in spring 2024. The original page images can be viewed here .
In fact, the title Fine Clothes to the Jew, which was misunderstood and disliked by many people, was derived from the Harlemites Hughes saw pawning their own clothing; most of the pawn shops and other stores in Harlem at that time were owned by Jewish people.
In Hughes’s second book, Fine Clothes to the Jew (1927), he turned to the blues for a poetic form derived from and answering to the desires, needs, and aesthetic sensibilities of the Black working class.
Hailed by Arnold Rampersad as “ [Hughes’] most brilliant book of poems,” Fine Clothes to the Jew is the stunning sophomore collection of poetry that—in conjunction with The Weary Blues—solidified Langston Hughes as a literary powerhouse.
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Fine Clothes to the Jew appeared almost ten years after Hughes first began to write poetry. While his work in Lincoln, Illinois (where by his own account he wrote his first poem, in 1916), is lost, almost all of his poems written in high school in Cleveland and thereafter are available to scholars. They may be found in the Central High
Fine clothes to the Jew by Langston Hughes. Description. Has striped paper boards. Presentation to Fania Marinoff [Van Vechten] 15 Jan. '26 [i.e. 1927]. Extent. 1 book jacket.
