July 1930, Langston Hughes and Punches with Soul

Rhubarb Punch, this and other recipes below

In doing research my book Hog and Hominy http://cup.columbia.edu/book/978-0-231-14638-8/hog-and-hominy/tableOfContents I came across the following 1930s source on Black southerners and punch from the life of Harlem Renaissance writer Langston Hughes. “White authors and lecturers on a similar [book] tour could always take refuge at a hotel after a program.” But Jim Crow laws barred African Americans authors from segregated hotels. As result black speakers “were at the mercy of private hosts in private homes from whom there was no escape.” He explains, “Southerners are great ones for hospitality. Warm and amiable and friendly as it was, I was nevertheless almost killed by entertainment, drowned by punch, gorged on food, and worn out with handshaking.” My wife and I hosted a party last night and folks raved about the two punches we drowned them with: Peachy Lemonade and Pink Rhubarb Punch. Several folks asked for the recipes so here they are:

Rhubarb Punch recipe: http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Pink-Rhubarb-Punch

Peachy Lemonade recipe: http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/Peachy-Lemonade