Langston Hughes (1902-1967)

Background -Hughes was born in 1902 in Joplin, Missouri. -Langston Hughes grew up in Lawrence, Kansas, and also lived in Illinois, Ohio, and Mexico. -Raised by his grandmother, Mary Langston. -Before living off his poetry, Langston worked odd jobs like assistant cook, busboy, sailor, and launderer. -Langston’s first published book of poetry was The Weary Blues. It was published by Alfred A. Knopf in 1926.

Education After graduating high school in Cleveland, Hughes spent a year in Mexico with his father He spent one year at Columbia University in NYC He eventually graduated form Lincoln University in Pennsylvania

Hughes’ Influences Family His Grandmother (Mary Langston) His Grandfather (John Mercer Langston) Poets Walt Whitman Carl Sandburg Paul Laurence Dunbar Claude McKay Music Jazz Blues African Tribal Music

Harlem Renaissance Langston Hughes became a leading poet during the Harlem Renaissance This was a cultural movement, centered in Harlem New York in the 1920’s and 1930’s, that celebrated black artists known as "the poet laureate of Harlem.”

Themes Hughes’ poetry and fiction centered on the working class lives of blacks in America lives full of struggle, joy, laughter and music Permeating his work is pride in the African American identity and its diverse culture. "My seeking has been to explain and illuminate the Negro condition in America and obliquely that of all human kind”