Good morning. It's Saturday, Jan. 31. Welcome to this week's Society & Culture newsletter. First time reading? Sign up here or click here to share with friends. |
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Tomorrow is writer Langston Hughes' birthday, so we're exploring the Harlem Renaissance icon's life and work. Then, in preparation for tomorrow night's Grammy Awards, we break down the history of the Billboard charts, the gold standard for commercial success in popular music. Finally, we dig into the world of performance art, the innovative but often misunderstood form.
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—Kevin Kearney, 1440 Society & Culture Section Editor |
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An introduction to Langston Hughes
Langston Hughes was a 20th-century American writer who published poetry, short stories, novels, journalism, and plays. He is considered an architect of the Harlem Renaissance, the 1920s and 1930s arts movement that articulated the experiences of Black America.
Hughes is best known for his poetry, which blended the musicality of jazz and blues, the everyday vernacular of Harlem, and social commentary. By the middle of the 20th century, Hughes was one of the most well-known poets in America, sometimes referred to as “the Poet Laureate of Harlem” or “the Great Black Bard.” (Read some of his most famous poems.)
Later in life, Hughes continued writing, evolving into an elder statesman, with the impact of his work felt in the words of Lorraine Hansberry’s “A Raisin in the Sun” and Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream.” Hughes died in 1967 due to complications from prostate cancer, but his work remains widely read today by American students.
... Explore everything else we learned about Langston Hughes.
Also, check out ...
> "The Negro Speaks of Rivers" introduced a teenage Hughes to the literary world. (Read)
> In 1953, he testified before Sen. Joseph McCarthy's Subcommittee on Investigations. (Read)
> Later in his career, Hughes spent eight weeks teaching junior high and high school students in Chicago. (Read)
> Hughes once solicited ghost stories from readers for his newspaper column. (Read) |
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A brief history of the Billboard charts
Billboard is an American trade magazine owned by Penske Media Corp., known for its music charts that rank the top songs and albums in the United States based on radio airplay, physical sales, and streams. It’s become the gold standard in the recording industry for what’s driving pop culture. (See a list of the artists with the most No. 1 singles.)
Billboard began in 1894 as Billboard Advertising, a modest, eight-page trade journal for the advertising industry. As the entertainment industry embraced recorded media, the magazine followed and, in 1940, published its first music chart. Over the next several decades, it introduced several new charts (including ones tracking performance outside the US) and changed others’ names, indirectly defining the genre lines of American music. Today, the Hot 100, which measures songs, and the Billboard 200, which measures albums, are industry standards. (View a timeline of the magazine's evolution.)
As technology has evolved, Billboard has periodically revised its methodology to reflect listening habits. The magazine incorporated streaming data into its charts’ methodologies in 2007. The change has led to significant changes for the charts, yielding unexpected hits and, in some cases, accusations of manipulation.
... Explore everything else we learned about the Billboard charts.
Also, check out ...
> Billboard's early music charts were racially segregated. (Read)
> In 1991, a technological breakthrough altered how Billboard determined what was popular, reshaping the pop culture landscape. (Read)
> Browse over a century of Billboard issues. (Read)
> Maurice Williams and the Zodiacs' "Stay" is the shortest song to hit No. 1. (Read) |
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Performance art, 101
Performance art is art created through the actions of the artist, the viewers, or both. It is often exhibited live and typically designed to subvert normal assumptions about life and art. These artworks prioritize concepts over technical skill and differ from dance or theater by presenting their work as an art exhibit. They often incorporate spontaneity and improvisation rather than rehearsal and consistency. (View a list of the most important performance artists.)
Performance art originated alongside early 20th-century movements like Dadaism and constructivism, which frequently emphasized questioning conventional cultural and artistic norms. Artists like Andy Warhol, Yoko Ono, and Marina Abramović pushed the form forward through the latter half of the century.
While performance art was originally seen as subversive—due in part to its often politically charged themes—it has since become a mainstay in the art world, leaving some questioning whether it’s become the new convention.
... Explore everything else we learned about performance art.
Also, check out ...
> Zurich's Cabaret Voltaire was the epicenter of early performance art. (Read)
> Gutai was performance art's Japanese predecessor. (Watch)
> Jackson Pollock and others developed "action painting," highlighting the creative process. (Watch)
> One critic asks, "Can anything be performance art?" (Read) |
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Beyond our weekly deep dives, we love finding great takes on the culture currently shaping our lives. Here are some of the best reactions, profiles, and think pieces we encountered this week.
> 52 Places To Go in 2026
NY Times | Staff. If you're enduring bitter cold right now, then it might help to daydream about traveling somewhere else. The Times' annual list of destinations is always a great read, and this year is no exception, with inspired ideas for exploring Winnie the Pooh's England, Sorolla's Spain, and Roosevelt's North Dakota. (Read)
> George Saunders Has a New Mantra
The Atlantic | Adrienne LaFrance. The writer has a new novel out, his first since the 2017 Booker Prize-winning "Lincoln in the Bardo." In this interview, Saunders explains how he uses humor, his admiration for Russian writers like Chekhov and Gogol, and what he believes is literature's place in the age of information overload. (Read)
> Boxing, Celebrity, and the Death of Mastery
New Lines Magazine | Tam Hussein. Celebrity boxing matches featuring YouTubers and other internet personalities have become a lucrative option for a beleaguered industry. Hussein, however, argues that the trend has damaged the sport and sent a damaging message to younger viewers. (Read)
> I Live as a Crane
The Guardian | Marianne Wellington. The author works for the International Crane Foundation in Wisconsin, caring for and helping to conserve the birds when they are chicks, a job that requires her to dress as a crane. The title might sound outlandish, but Wellington's story is both funny and heartwarming. (Read)
> How Bakers Survive Winter Mornings
Cake Zine | Various. Thirteen bakers detail their morning routines, which often start hours before sunrise. The collection of responses is fascinating, illustrating the devotion, creativity, and grit the career requires. As one baker puts it, "It’s hard, but if you can’t do hard things, you shouldn’t be a baker." (Read) |
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"We build our temples for tomorrow, strong as we know how, and we stand on top of the mountain, free within ourselves." |
—Langston Hughes, "The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain"
Read it here. |
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