Langston Hughes
(1902–1967)
More than any other writer, Langston Hughes is associated with the life of Harlem. In his writing he depicted the joys, troubles, and hopes of its people. Hughes was born in Joplin, Missouri, and grew up in Joplin, in Lincoln, Illinois, and in Cleveland, Ohio. He attended Central High School in Cleveland, where he first began to write poems for the school magazine. After graduation, he worked at various jobs, and in 1921, he went to New York to attend Columbia University. A year later, he traveled as a sailor and cook’s helper on a steamer to Africa and Europe. He took a variety of odd jobs in Paris and Italy and then returned to the United States, where he worked in a Washington, D.C., hotel. He was "discovered" there by the poet Vachel Lindsay, who praised his poetry and encouraged him to continue writing.
Hughes settled in Harlem and became part of the Harlem Renaissance. The Weary Blues, his first book of poems, was published in 1926; other collections followed, as well as fiction, plays, and autobiographical works. He is also known for his series of sketches about a citizen of Harlem named Jess B. Semple, known as "Simple" to his friends, who speaks his mind on a variety of subjects and issues. Hughes was the most influential and the most versatile of all the writers of the Harlem Renaissance. He wrote opera, fiction, journalism, drama, poetry, and essays, and he edited the work of other African American writers.
