Langston Hughes

Langston Hughes Summary | Plot Summary

Langston Hughes was born in Mississippi on February 1, 1902. Soon after his birth, Langston's father abandoned Langston and his mother and moved to Mexico City, where he became a farmer. Langston was then put in his Grandmother's care. His grandmother introduced Langston to the liberating speeches of Booker T. Washington and the strong journalism of W.E.B. DuBois. Unfortunately, she died when he was twelve, and the Reeds, who were family friends, agreed to raise Langston.

After she remarried, Langston reunited with his mother. The new family moved around and eventually settled in Cleveland, where Langston began writing poetry. Hughes spent the next two summers in Mexico with his father, whom he disliked because of his judgmental attitude toward blacks and Mexicans. After the second summer, his father agreed to send Langston to Columbia.

Hughes preferred the streets of Harlem to Columbia, and he soon dropped out of college and traveled the world as a member of several different sailing vessels. He traveled the coast of Africa, and throughout Europe and Asia. Sometimes he traveled as a screenwriter, other times as a journalist, but throughout his journeys, he continued to write and submit poetry.

Langston also explored other aspects of the writing craft; he wrote poems, short stories, novels, autobiographies, anti-war paraphernalia, and children's books. His poem "The Weary Blues" made Hughes a minor celebrity. After the publication of "The Weary Blues," Hughes returned to college, this time at Lincoln University.

After completing college, Hughes became involved in the theater, and his play Mulatto became one of the most successful black plays ever written. He helped found several theaters in Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York. Hughes' life was filled with curiosity and exploration. Apart from his influence as a writer, Hughes was always involved in his community. He died in 1969 at the age of sixty-seven.