Langston Hughes: (1902-1967)
The Life and Works of Langston Hughes:
Langston Huges was born in Joplin Missouri on February 1, 1902. Shorthy after his birth his mother and father were divorced, where upon his father moved to Mexico. In 1903 young Langston moved to Lawrence Kansas to live with his grandmother. In 1915, Langston left his grandmother's home to move with his mother and step father in Lincoln Illinois. It was during this period that Hughes began writing poetry. Hughes left to teach English in Mexico upon his high school graduation in 1920. It was on the train to Mexico that Hughes wrote "The Negro Speaks of Rivers". Before entering Lincoln University, in 1926, Hughes Published The Weary Blues. The Weary Blues was a ground breaking book of poetry in the sense that Hughes utilized the sounds and rhythmic patterns of Blues within his poems. Huges also utilized the same meter from blues and jazz within the poems. The following year, Hughes published Fine Clothes for the Jew (1927). After Hughes graduated Lincoln University in 1929, he left Pennsilvania to live in Harlem and immerse himself in the Harlem Renaissance.
Throughout his life Hughes viewed himself primarily as a poet, although he did not create only Poetry. Hughes had an amazing output of differing works published. In 1930, Hughes wrote his first novel Not Without Laughter. Shortly after, Hughes wrote two books for children entitled , The Dream Keeper and Popo and Fifina (1932). Hughes also wrote a varity of Drama, some of which was performed on Broadway. Hughes was so versitle that he even wrote Music and a libretto for an Opera. Hughes also wrote Prose and Fiction as well as translating various writers, including Gypsy Ballads by Spanish Poet Frederico Garcia Lorca(1951). Hughes experienced a long, succesful career in which he stayed dedicated to the working people of Harlem.
Hughes Biographies:
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