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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.
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,
Not Without Laughter, 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.
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:
The Big Sea, and
I Wonder As I
Wander. His collections of poetry include:
The Dream Keeper,
Shakespeare In Harlem. He edited
several anthologies in an attempt to popularize black authors and their
works. Some of these are:
An African Treasury,
New Negro Poets,
USA,
and
The Best Short Stories by Negro Writers.
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". |
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