"The Weary Blues" is Langston Hughes' first collection of poems. His poetry portrays the lives of the working-class blacks in America, lives he portrays as full of struggle, joy, laughter, and music. Permeating his work is pride in the African-American identity and its diverse culture. He confronted racial stereotypes, protested social conditions, and expanded African America's image of itself; a "people's poet" who sought to reeducate both audience and artist by lifting the theory of the black aesthetic into reality.