8: Langston Hughes Biography

James Langston Hughes was born in Joplin, Missouri on February 1, 1902. When Hughes was a child he had a rough, hard life. First, his parents had abandoned him, so he went to live on with his grandmother. With his grandmother in Lawrence, Kansas is where he spent most of his childhood. But then, after the death of his grandmother, Hughes went to live with friends and family for about two years. Later on he lived with his mother, who had remarried, in Lincoln, Illinois and then they moved to Cleveland, Ohio. Hughes went to high school at Central High School in Cleveland. In the eighth grade at Central is when he started to write his poetry. His father discouraged him from doing poetry and said he was in favor of him doing something ‘more practical’. After high school, Hughes attended Columbia University studying engineering just like his father wanted him to. A while or so passed and he decided he wanted to continue to write poetry so he dropped out. The Negro Speaks of Rivers as Hughes’ first published poem and also one of the most famous ones made by him. He also wrote short plays, essays, and short stories which ended up appearing in many places such as the NAACP publication, Crisis Magazine, and others. Wherever Hughes was, he loved to sit in the clubs listening to blues, jazz and writing poetry. He stated that he tried to write poems like the songs that they sang on Seventh Street because they had the rhythm that kept people going. Hughes received a scholar ship to Lincoln University in Pennsylvania so he decided to go there. He finally received his B.A. degree in 1929 and became a prolific writer. Langston Hughes died on May 22, 1967. Throughout his life he devoted it to writing and lecturing. He ended up writing many poems, two novels, twenty plays, collections of short stories, and many more.