James Mercer Langston Hughes was born on February 1, 1902 in Joplin Missouri. He was raised with both parents until his father left and divorced his mother. Because of this divorce, he was left with his grandmother while his mother went looking for a job. Eventually his grandmother died so him and his mother moved around a lot but they eventually stayed in one city.

Hughes moved to Colombia to study engineering at Columbia University. The subject wasn’t his passion it his father’s. Hughes then discovered Harlem and went to study at Lincoln University finishing his education then later moving back to New York where he became heavily involved in the Harlem Renaissance movement. At the time, racial judgment towards colored people was a huge problem in society.

The first poem he wrote was in 1921 in his summer after high school “The negro speaks of rivers.” He began writing a wide range of literature ranging from poems to plays. Hughes created many poems that became popular as well as other forms of literature. Some examples are “The Weary Blues,” “I,too,” “Let America be America again,” and others. He was a very influential activist in his writing showing black culture.

Hughes passed away May 22, 1967 at the age of 65.