An American poet, playwright and novelist, Langston Hughes is best known as a leader of the Harlem Renaissance in New York City. His contributions to the arts provided an insightful glance into the lives of African Americans from the twenties through the sixties. He was determined to depict the realities of lower class black people while criticizing the self-divide within the black community based on skin color.
His works promoted self-love and equality for all people.
Hughes was born on February 1,1902 in Joplin Missouri where he had a particularly complex ancestry with two great-grandmothers, who were enslaved black women, and two great-grandfathers, who were white slave owners in Kentucky. His parents divorced at a young age prompting his father to move to Mexico.
He was raised by his grandmother before moving in with his mother and her husband in Cleveland Ohio at the age of thirteen. It was during this time that Hughes was introduced to poetry by one of his teachers. Poets Carl Sandburg and Walt Whitman became two of Hughes’s major influences.
After graduating high school, Hughes spent a year in Mexico followed by a year at the prestigious Columbia university in New York. His first published poem, “The Negro Speaks of Rivers,” was published in The Crisis – official magazine of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Many of his later works were also published in the journal. He held a variety of low end jobs before moving to Washington D.C where his first book of poetry entitled, The Weary Blues was published in 1926.
Hughes differed from other black poets of his time because he often addressed his poetry specifically to black people. Rather than discussing obscure themes his works contained languages and themes that could be easily understood by anyone with the ability to read. This gave everyone an equal opportunity to fully enjoy the beauty of poetry.
Hughes incorporated Jazz into his works and considered Jazz and Blues to be African American art forms which discussed the troubles black people in America faced. Hughes is known for creating the genre known as Jazz poetry which includes syncopated rhythms as well as jive language to mimic the feel of jazz music.
For Hughes, Jazz was an important way of life. His contributions continue to change the way people think about poetry, prompting others to appreciate the culture and experiences of African Americans around the world. `