Langston Hughes Writer, Poet Scott # 3557  Issued February 1, 2002 in New York, NY Designed by Henri Cartier-Bresson

Langston Hughes was born on February 1, 1902 in Joplin, Missouri.  Langston's early years were spent at his grandmother's home in Lawrence, Kansas where she was an active participant in civil rights causes. (Her first husband was killed in John's Brown's raid at Harper's Ferry.) Langston became an eager listener during round table sessions at her home. His grandmother also encouraged him in his reading. 

Langston lived with his mother in Lincoln, Illinois and Cleveland Ohio during his teen years. He graduated from high school in 1920 and then spent a year with his father in Mexico. He wrote his first published poem, The Negro Speaks of Rivers while riding on the train to Mexico. It was published in The Crisis, the official publication of the NAACP in 1921 and it became his best known poem.

Langston entered Columbia University in 1927 but dropped out after only a year. He spent some time in Harlem and then shipped as a steward aboard a tramp freighter sailing to West Africa and Europe. 

Langston continued to write during this time and his works were published in The Crisis and the National Urban League's Opportunity. He returned to the United States in 1924 as an established poet. In 1925 he won first prize in Opportunity Magazine's poetry contest for The Weary Blues. 

Langston was one of the leading figures in the Harlem Renaissance and was often referred to as the Poet Laureate of Harlem. His first novel, Not Without Laughter was published in 1930. Langston became active in political and social causes during the 1930s and traveled to the USSR, Haiti and Japan. He was the Madrid correspondent for a Baltimore newspaper during the Spanish Civil War.

Langston wrote a newspaper column for the Chicago Defender in the 1940s under the pseudonym  of Jesse B. Semple (called Simple) who expressed the thoughts of Black Americans in street smart language.  The character Simple became famous and was included in many of Langston's short stories.

Langston authored more than 50 books. These include Weary Blues, The Dream keeper, Fields of Wonder, The Ways of White Folks, The Best of Simple, Not without Laughter, The Big Sea, I Wonder as I Wander, and Black Misery.

Langston was also a prolific playwright. He wrote Mulatto in 1935 which was performed on Broadway over 370 times and in 1947 he wrote the Broadway musical Street Scene. In the 1960s he wrote two successful Gospel shows, Black Nativity and Jericho-Jim Crow.

Langston Hughes died on May 22, 1967 in New York City.

Sources: 
Encyclopedia Britannica  
Encyclopedia Africana