He was often left alone because his mother was at work. She told stories that made him feel proud to be an African-American.Īfter his grandmother died, Hughes and his mother moved about 12 times until settling in Cleveland, and then, as a teenager went to live in Lincoln, Illinois with his mother, who had remarried. Langston's grandmother was a great story teller. During his childhood, Hughes was cared for by his grandmother, in Lawrence, Kansas while his mother worked to support the family.

Langston's father, James Hughes, was so upset about the racism towards African-Americans that he left his family and moved to Mexico. His parents were James Hughes and Carrie Langston Hughes who was a teacher. Langston Hughes was born on Februin Joplin, Missouri. Hughes became a famous writer, but all his life he remembered how he started out, and he helped and encouraged many other struggling writers. Through his poetry, plays, and stories, Hughes helped other black Americans to see themselves as part of a much bigger group of people, so that now the term 'African-American' is used with pride. Hughes was unusual for his time, because he went back to West Africa to understand more about his own culture. Most 'negroes' did not remember or think about their link with the people of Africa, even though it was a big influence on their culture and, in particular, their music. At that time, the term used for African-Americans was ' negro' which means a person with black skin. Hughes grew up as a poor boy from Missouri, the descendant of African people who had been taken to America as slaves. Hughes was one of the writers and artists whose work was called the Harlem Renaissance.

James Mercer Langston Hughes (Febru – May 22, 1967) was an American poet, novelist, playwright and short story writer.

The collected works of langston hughes