Langston Hughes is widely recognized as a pioneer of jazz poetry, having crafted works such as “The Weary Blues” that imitate the flow and rhythm of jazz music. He was dubbed the people's poet for his vivid portrayals of black culture and everyday life. His memoir, The Big Sea, was published 15 years after he was first asked to compose it at the age of 23. Throughout his life, he never stopped writing poetry, with his last work being The Panther & the Lash on the Black Power movement. James Mercer Langston Hughes was born on February 1, 1902 in Joplin, Missouri, United States.
He studied at the University of Colombia and the University of Lincoln before working for the Chicago Defender newspaper for 20 years. He also reported on the Spanish Civil War for an African-American newspaper in Baltimore in 1937. Hughes is best known for his contributions to the Harlem Renaissance literary movement. His Collected Poems, edited by Arnold Rampersad and David Roessel, was published in 1994. He could have attended engineering school to please his father but decided against it after a year. After his death, the City College of New York began awarding an annual Langston Hughes Medal to an influential and attractive black writer.
Mary Langston, the first black woman to attend Oberlin College in Ohio and widow of one of John Brown's abolitionist partners, passed down her talent for storytelling through stories of slavery, heroism and family heritage. Langston Hughes was also a competent journalist and clarified that his family history was brown rather than black. He was often referred to as the poet laureate of Harlem or the poet laureate of the black race. In addition to his poetic contributions to the Harlem Renaissance movement, Langston Hughes was an exceptional writer and traveler.
He sparked a revolution with his works as an African-American writer who earned a living from writing.