Langston Hughes Biography

James Langston Hughes was born Feburary 1, 1902 in Joplin, Missouri. His parents divorced when he was young so therefore he was raised by his grandmother until he was thirteen. Where he then moved to Cleveland, Ohio. Soon after he moved to Lincoln, Illnois which was beginning of his poetry writing. Hughes went to school at Columbia University and also travel around the world including West Africa and Europe. Hughes travels influenced alot of his poetry and also his other works of art such as novels, short stories, and plays. Making hugh contributions to defining the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920's. Through his works of art Hughes wanted to tell the true aspects of his culture and the love his people had for music. Langston Hughes died May 22, 1967 in New York because of complications of prostate cancer. In memory of him the residences at his home in Harlem, New York had given him a landmark status by the New York Preservation Commission and renamed it "Langston Hughes Place."