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Classic Authors: Langston Hughes

© Susan Jensen

Through his poetry and prose, Langston Hughes brought the world of the African-American community to a broad, national audience. Appreciated by blacks and whites alike, his work is best known for its honesty and its use of black folk rhythms. Langston also wrote about Jazz and themes which focused on the life of everyday African-Americans. Although he led a very private existence, Langston Hughes became a passionate spokesman for his people.

James Mercer Langston Hughes was born on February 1, 1902, in Joplin, Missouri. His father, James Nathaniel Hughes, worked as a lawyer and businessman, while his mother, Carrie Mercer (Langston) Hughes, taught school. The couple divorced soon after Langston's birth, leaving Langston in the alternate care of his father, his mother, his grandmother and family friends. He moved from place to place, creating a very lonely childhood; Langston found solace in reading and writing. His father, a cold man who appeared to be ashamed of his race in general and himself in particular, relocated to Mexico. Langston visited his father periodically, but the visits always felt tense and strained.

Although his childhood appears to have been rather chaotic, he displayed a genius for poetry at an early age. He excelled in school, and was voted class poet of his grammar school in Lincoln, Illinois. Later, while attending Central High School in Cleveland, Langston proved himself to be a star athlete and a gifted writer. He published several poems and short stories in the school's newspaper. After graduation, Langston headed for Mexico, where he would teach English for a year. While on a train to Mexico, he penned "The Negro Speaks of Rivers," which would become his first published poem.

Langston spent the early years of his adulthood traveling to various places, including West Africa, Holland, Haiti and France. He also spent a year at Columbia University and a year living in Harlem. He returned home in November 1924, settling in Washington, D.C., where he found work in a laundry. It was in the nation's capitol that Langston Hughes began meeting artists who became influential in the Harlem Renaissance (a movement in the 1920s and 30s, in which African-American artists finally began receiving national recognition for the creative works). During these years, Langston continued to write. His poems won prizes and his work was published in the black journals The Crisis and Opportunity as well as Vanity Fair.

Although Langston's work had been previously published, it began gaining popularity when other prominent writers praised its skill and originality. Carl Van Vechten, a white novelist, helped to get The Weary Blues(1926) published, while Vachel Lindsay also lauded Langston's work. From that time on, he continued to write prolifically, publishing poetry, short stories, articles, translations and autobiographical texts.

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