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Langston Hughes was born in 1902 in Joplin, Missouri, a small town in the southwest corner of Missouri.  His parents divorced when he was just a boy. His father moved to Mexico and Langston was raised by his grandmother.

As a member of an abolitionist family. Langston was taught early on that he could defy odds and achieve whatever he he set his mind to despite the color of his skin. He was the great-great-grandson of Charles Henry Langston, brother of John Mercer Langston, who was the first Black American to be elected to public office.

At thirteen, Langston Hughes moved to Illinois to be with his mother.  They eventually moved on to Cleveland Ohio where he began writing poetry.  His father encouraged him to pursue a career more practical than writing, and paid for his son’s tuition to Columbia University on the grounds he study engineering. After a short time, Langston dropped out of the program, and went on to pursue writing. 

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He worked odd jobs as an assistant cook, launderer, and a busboy, and he worked as a seaman so he could travel to Africa and Europe. In November 1924, he moved to Washington, D.C. and in 1926 published his first book of poetry, The Weary Blues. He finished his college education at Lincoln University in Pennsylvania three years later and in 1930 his first novel , won the Harmon gold medal for literature.  Hughes became known for his insightful, colorful portrayals of black life in America from the 1920s to the 1960s. According to Hughes, primary influences on his writing, were Walt Whitman, Paul Lawrence Dunbar, and Carl Sandburg.

Hughes work played a significant role in shaping the artistic contributions of the Harlem Renaissance. He wrote novels, short stories, plays, and of course, his beloved poetry for the common black American.  He did not differentiate between his own experiences and those of all black Americans—his desire and his achievement was to tell the stories of all black Americans in ways that reflected their actual culture, including both their hardships and their joys–especially their love of music, laughter, and language.

He also became known for his collaborations with the world of jazz and the influence it had on his writing, as in Montage of a Dream Deferred. (Amazon.com has a signed copy of Montage of a Dream available for collectors).

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In all, Langston Hughes wrote sixteen books of poems, two novels, three collections of short stories, four volumes of “editorial” and “documentary” fiction, twenty plays, children’s poetry, musicals and operas, three autobiographies, a dozen radio and television scripts and dozens of magazine articles. In addition, he edited seven anthologies. The long and distinguished list of Hughes’ works includes: , and .

His collections of poetry include: and . He edited several anthologies in an attempt to popularize black authors and their works. Some of these are: , , and .

Langston Hughes died of cancer in May of 1967 in Harlem New York. His block of East 127th Street was later renamed “Langston Hughes Place”.

For further study, consider by John Edger T. Tidwell.