Growing up

Langston Hughes was an African American poet, writer, and activist. When he was growing up, his grandmother taught him to be proud of being Black. He wrote a lot about how proud he was of being Black and having Black heritage.

Hughes began writing in high school. He wrote stories, plays, and articles for the school paper. He went to Columbia University, but dropped out because people were racist towards him. Some years later, he went to a Black university. Hughes’s writing career started to go really well when he met American poet Vachel Lindsay and showed him his work. Vachel really liked it and he told other people about it.

Published writer

Hughes’s first poetry book, The Weary Blues, was published in 1926. It discusses the struggles Black people went through in their daily lives. His work was very popular, and it showed the creativity of Black artists in America.

Hughes was part of what is known as the Harlem Renaissance. This was a time when Black people were making lots of amazing art, and it was becoming very popular in the United States. Hughes also wrote books about real life, and newspaper articles in an important Black newspaper called The Chicago Defender.