Langston Hughes is the best known and most influential African American writer in the world. He had humble beginnings and was loved and hated by many. His writings caused many African Americans to join the Civil Rights Movement. Without him, our society would be very different today. He wrote mostly poems, although he wrote some short stories, nonfiction, and children’s books. Some consider him a communist because of his socialist values. The reason he was so influential to African Americans was because he had lived what they were living, a life of poverty and abuse by whites. He was brought up the same way most of them were.

Langston Hughes was born James Langston Hughes on February 1, 1902, in Joplin Missouri. His parents were divorced shortly after his birth. He lived mostly with his grandmother for twelve years after his parent’s separation, sometimes living with his mother for short periods of time. After his grandmother died, he lived with some of her friends for a while, and then went back to live with his mother.

His grandmother had been a great storyteller, and while he lived with her, she would tell him stories of heroic African-Americans of the past. This helped give him pride in his people for his later writings. After he went back to his mother, she would take him to plays despite their poverty. In his times of loneliness, he would read, which eventually got him interested in writing.

When he first started writing, his style followed that of Paul Laurence Dunbar and Carl Sandburg until he found a writing style of his own; a way of writing that includes into it the traditional music of Africans, taught to him by his grandmother who instilled his pride of being African into him. When he was seventeen, he wrote his first poem to become published, “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” arguably his best poem.

Twenty-Three year old Hughes was desperate for money, so he worked as a launderer, at an oyster bar, then as a mail clerk. Some of his poems were featured in Survey Graphic, a magazine with articles by new African American Writers. He won First Prize in Opportunity Magazine’s literary contest with his collection, “The Weary Blues,” and was established as an influential writer of the time.

While Hughes was writing, there were three main events going on at the time. The Great Depression, the Civil Rights Movement, and the Harlem Renaissance, a period of time when African American literature was considered a major part of American Literature. He was very anticapitalist and as he grew older, this was exhibited more and more in his writing.

Hughes wrote a short story named “Little Old Spy” about censorship and conspiracy in Cuba. In it, he compared Cuban Black poverty to African American poverty. Hughes bought a car and went on tour, selling his books and performing where he could.

Hughes won the Harmon Foundation Award. This prestigious award was specifically for African American Writers. Many poets praised him as the “greatest Negro poet in the world.” He used the four hundred dollars to go on a vacation to the Caribbean Islands.

When Hughes went to visit his sick mother in Ohio, the Giplin Players asked him to become a resident playwright for them, playing him fifty dollars royalty for five performances.

A series of short stories that Hughes tried to publish were rejected by magazine editors. The editors told Hughes, “Most people read for pleasure and there is no pleasure here.” Later, some of these were published into an anthology called “The Ways of White Folks.” It was praised by critics. Also, around this time, Hughes was put onto historian Charles A. Beard’s list of twenty- five most interesting Americans.

Hughes father told him that he was amazed that Langston could make a living off of writing. When his father died in Mexico, he went down to clear up legal affairs. He was not mentioned in the will.

One of Hughes works, named “Mulatto,” was presented as a play in New York City. Hughes was not invited to the after-party, nor was any of the black cast of the play.

Hughes disliked James Baldwin because Baldwin had given a book of Hughes poems a horrible review while all other critics praised it. Also, he wrote a story about how horrible Harlem, Hughes’s home, was. Baldwin later admitted that he had written the review without actually reading the book.

Hughes used his writing to encourage young African American writers to take pride in their race and culture. He instructed them to portray Black culture in their writing. Hughes works inspired many African Americans to join the Civil Rights Movement.

Hughes wrote a poem called “Ask Your Mama: Twelve Moods for Jazz.” The poem is about two jazz musicians challenge each other to see who the better musician is. They play many different instruments for the other. Hughes wrote this to show how the Civil Rights Movement should be fought; with words and in courts, not physically. This poem was praised by African American reviewers, but white reviewers did not seem to understand it.

The State Department often asked Hughes to host foreign visitors to the U.S. due to his worldwide popularity. Many of these dignitaries were from Africa; they especially liked him because of him helping his people in the U.S.

Hughes died on May 22, 1967. Although he was dead, the impact of his work still grew as others read it. Hughes’s work was a major factor of the Civil Rights movement. If it wasn’t for Hughes work, Martin Luther King Jr. may not have succeeded. Hughes style of incorporating traditional African music into his writing drew many Blacks to read it and then put pride of their culture into them, causing them to join the Civil Rights Movement.

Hughes received mainly positive reviews from critics for his whole career. I have found a list of all of the awards that Hughes has won. These are listed chronologically.

• “Opportunity magazine literary contest, first prize in poetry: 1925.
• Amy Spingarn Contest, Crisis magazine, poetry and essay prizes: 1925.
• Witter Bynner undergraduate poetry prize contests, first prize: 1926.
• Palms magazine Intercollegiate Poetry award: 1927.
• Harmon Gold Medal for Literature: 1931.
• Rosenwald Fellowships: 1931, 1941.
• Guggenheim fellowship for creative work: 1935.
• Litt.D., Lincoln University: 1943.
• National Institute and American Academy of Arts and Letters grant: 1947.
• Anisfeld-Wolfe award for best book on racial relations: 1954.
• Howard University: 1960.
• Spingarn Medal, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People: 1960.
• Western Reserve University: 1964.