The award-winning first novel by the legendary Harlem Renaissance poet In small-town Kansas at the turn of the twentieth century,Sandy Rogers is a young Black boy growing up surrounded by family. His motherAnnjeeworks as a housekeeper for a wealthy white family while his fatherJimboycomes in and out of townbringing his guitar with himand his grandmotherHagertries to keep the whole family right in the eyes of God. Amid the many hardships of these years of great changeSandy learns what it means to be a member of the complex society heΓÇÖs inherited. First published in 1930Langston Hughes’s award-winning debut novel draws from the authorΓÇÖs childhood in the rural Midwest to paint a moving account of the trials and joys of life in Black communities thatuntil the novelΓÇÖs publicationhad not seen themselves reflected in American literature. A groundbreaking workNot Without Laughter established Langston Hughes as a gifted novelist as well as a beloved poet.