Langston Hughes Biography
Langston Hughes’ former name is James Mercer Langston Hughes. He was
born on February 1, 1902 in Joplin, Missouri. In May 22, 1967, he died in New York,
New York. He is famously known as an American poet, novelist, playwright, short
story writer, and even a columnist. He is widely known as the earliest inventor of
jazz poetry. His works were recognized also during the Harlem Renaissance.
Some of the family backgrounds were that he was the second child of
Caroline Mercer Langston and James Nathaniel Hughes. His parents were mixraced, so he turned out to be African American, European American, and even
Native American. There were conflicts in his family by his father leaving his family.
Also, his parents divorced later on. His father left, trying to escape racism in U.S.
His school life was hard in early age. However, he later went to Grammar
school in Lincoln, Illinois and was elected class poet. He also attended high school in
Cleveland, Ohio. When he graduated high school in June 1920, he asked his father to
help him go to Columbian University.
He had some difficult relationships with his father. Langston even had
attempts to suicide multiple times, due to his poor relationship with his father. He
tries to convince his father to send him to Columbian University. However, he wasn’t
able to have his own choice. As a compromise, he would be studying engineering,
but his father would provide tuition to go to Columbia University.
Later, he just came out of Columbia University, but he had many various jobs.
He first worked as a personal assistant to the historian, Carter G. Woodson. Later on,
a poet, Lindsay, publicized Langston as a new black poet. Langston loved black men,
which was evidenced in unpublicized poems. He was a great supporter for rights of
Blacks and wanted U.S. to prevent racism.
He died on May 22, 1967, due to complications after the abdominal surgery.
He even has a Memorial library on campus of Lincoln University in Illinois. He has
written many works. Some of his famous works were The Negro Speaks of Rivers,
The First Book of the Negroes, The First book of Jazz, The First Book of Rhythms, and
etc.
He had contributed a lot to new introductions to many new types of poetry.
Also, he’s known as a very respected poet for fighting for rights for the Blacks. Also,
he worked for the NAACP and tried to have racism disappear in the U.S. He was a
historical figure in the historical events.
Rummel, Jack. Langston Hughes. 1932. Print.
C. De Santis, Christopher. The Collected Works of Langston Hughes. Missouri:
1984. Print.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Langston_Hughes