Langston Hughes

Langston Hughes was born February 1, 1902 and died May 22, 1967, was an African-American author. James Langston Hughes was born in Joplin, Missouri. He published works in all forms of literature, but he was best known for his poetry and his sketches about a black man called "Simple."

Most of Hughes's sketches about Simple have no plot. Simple expresses his opinions about current issues. He is outspoken, arousing, and impulsive. Hughes used Simple to show what an intelligent, but uneducated, proud black man might say if given the chance.

In his best-known poetry, Hughes wrote proudly and positively about black people. He experimented with poetic rhythms, using the rhythms of black music in his poetry. The literary pointed he earned most likely influenced the musical experiments of other African-American poets during the 1960's. Hughes was also highly interested in drama. He wrote plays and well-known theatrical companies.

Langston Hughes was one of the most important writers and thinkers of the Harlem Renaissance, which was the African American artistic movement in the 1920s that celebrated black life and culture. Hughes's creative smarts was influenced by his life in New York City's Harlem, mostly African American neighborhood. His literary works helped shape American literature and politics. Hughes, like others active in the Harlem Renaissance, had a strong sense of racial pride. Through his poetry, novels, plays, essays, and children's books, he supported equality, destined racism and injustice, and celebrated African American culture, humor, and religion. This was a book-length poem in five sections showing that the African American city understood using music, poetry, and history.

Hughes wrote or edited more than 50 books. Examples of his work are Not Without Laughter (1930), a novel; The Ways of White Folks (1934), a collection of short stories; The Big Sea (1940), an autobiography; The Langston Hughes Reader (1958); The Best of Simple (1961); and Five Plays by Langston Hughes (1963). The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes was published in 1994, after his death.