What is the importance of Langston Hughes in the essay collection, Well Read Black Girl?

Langston Hughes is only briefly described in this anthology, though frequently mentioned in passing by essayists claiming him as an inspiration. He is explored in "Zora and Me," by Marita Golden, since he was a good friend and later 'enemy' of Zora Neale Hurston. Langston saw himself as a guardian of black culture, just as Hurston did, but for him "the 'folk' of Harlem comprised his congregation" (57). Hurston resented this, finding that the rural Black South served as a better example of black culture rooted in history. Golden writes that Hughes' and Hurston's complex love-hate relationship "grew out of the recognition of how alike they were" (58).