Langston Hughes was born on February 1, 1902 in Joplin, Missouri. He was mostly raised by his grandmother in Kansas because of his parents marital problems. He began writing for his high school newspaper and yearbook; he also began writing poems, stories and plays. He attended Columbia University for one year. After that he found his way to Paris in 1920 where there was an expatriate black community which included Josephine Baker. He returned to the US a couple of years later and attended Lincoln University; he received his BA in 1929.

Langston Hughes was an influential contributor to the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920. His first poem, The Negro Speaks of Rivers , was published in The Crisis in 1921. His first collection of poems was published as The Weary Blues (1926). Not Without Laughter, his first novel, was published in 1930. In 1935, he received the Guggenheim Fellowship. In 1938, he established the Harlem Suitcase Theater. Langston Hughes published his first “Simple” novel, Simple Speaks his Mind in 1950. He wrote a total of 4 “Simple” novels. Throughout his career, Hughes wrote numerous poems, several novels, many plays, non-fiction books and even children’s books.

Langston Hughes died on May 27, 1967 from surgery related to prostate cancer.