Langston Hughes

Langston Hughes was born on February 1st, 1902, in Joplin, Missouri. His parents Carrie Langston and James Hughes (both racially mixed), separated when he was young and he lived most of his life with his grandmother, who'd come to pass on when he'd become a teen. He then lived with his mother and moved around and eventually settled in Ohio. It's there that Hughes first started on his poetic path. In school he'd actively participate in and contribute to his school magazine but was often rejected. In 1920, he graduated high school and took a giant leap with writing one of his most famous poems, The Negro Speaks of Rivers. With that Hughes would go on to further climb the latter of recognition, publishing books and poems and make a name for himself. He has been all over the world, spreading his word and learning about the world and also about himself. Later in life he'd become at the forefront of the artistic movement, The Harlem Renaissance, speaking about, to, and for black people as a whole. His work was a massive inspiration of the later coming generations. He taught what it meant to be black, and those teachings paved the way into a sort of artistic golden age for black people in America.

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