First published in 1930, "Not Without Laughter" is the debut novel by Langston Hughes and a deeply personal, semi-autobiographical tale of an African-American family in rural Kansas. Langston Hughes, born in 1902 in Joplin, Missouri, spent much of his youth in Lawrence, Kansas and it is here that he set his first novel. "Not Without Laughter" tells the story of young Sandy Rogers as he grows from a boy to a young man and focuses on his "awakening...

Sepia toned photographs by Charles R. Smith, Jr. accompany Langston Hughes' classic poem "My People" and celebrate the glory, beauty, and soul of the African-American community.

"She Walks in Beauty" is Kennedy's selection of poetry that tells the story of a woman's life including first love and lasting love; marriage, motherhood, and work; times of silence and solitude, and times of awe.