Langston Huges Write about life and times

James Mercer Langston Hughes was born on February 1, 1902 in Joplin, Missouri. Langston Hughes was a writer and not just the poet but he wrote two novels, autobiography, much African American poetry, plays and many children's books. But his main focus his whole life was writing poetry. All his famous poetries were about the African Americans rights and they were very influential. His poetry career started at the age of thirteen when he had to write a poem and read it in front of his class in the Lincoln Illinois grammar school (Bloom, p11). Than Langston Hughes moved to Cleveland, Ohio with his mother and stepfather. Than he went to city's Central high school where Hughes really got in to poetry. Than after high school graduation Langston had his real publication of his poem in the National Association for the Advancement of the colored people (NAACP) (Bloom, p12).

Langston Hughes started writing about the African American equal rights. One of his first publications was the'The Negro Speaks Of Rivers' (Dyson, p4). At the age of nineteen Langston Hughes became a real strong voice in the society and he came out with powerful and impact poems like Beggar Boy, Negro and Mother to Son to name a few. After his booming start Langston Hughes became real popular in the African American society. The jazz and the blues inspired Langston when he moved to New York City to go to Columbia University (Bloom, p13). To move to New York City was the biggest change in Langston Hughes life because he got involved in the Harlem Renaissance.

Than the Harlem renaissance came to an end and the Great Depression struck in 1929. Langston Hughes wrote 'Scottsboro Boys,' which were about nine African American boys in Alabama held up for a rape trial (Dyson, p6). Langston took more of a political route during the depression because he wanted his voice to be heard and he was becoming a strong activist in the African American communities. Langston Hughes traveled for a while than came back to Harlem after ten years. Langston wrote “Shakespeare in Harlem, which was a bunch of poems and verses about the mood and the situations that were in Harlem because of the Great Depression. After World War II Langston Hughes wrote 'One Way Ticket' and the famous 'Montage of a Dream Deferred'. Now Langston wrote about the ghettos and equal rights for African Americans and these poems were a social protest. 'The Dream Deferred' was the most powerful poem Langston had written because he was losing hope in the government and the situations were just getting worse (Dyson, p5).

Langston Hughes wrote many poetries in his lifetime and they were all mostly about social issues, race, depression and politics. 'The Negro Speaks of Rivers' is one of Langston Hughes greatest poems and it is the most anthologized poem from the rest of the other poems. Langston Hughes wrote this poem when he was only eighteen years ...