Langston Hughes

Langston Hughes (February 1, 1902, - May 22, 1967) was an African American poet, novelist, playwright and newspaper columnist.

Born James Langston Hughes in Joplin, Missouri, he is associated with the Harlem Renaissance.

Like many creative Americans at the time such as Ernest Hemingway and Gertrude Stein, Langston Hughes spent time in Paris, France. During the height of the great gathering of minds in Montparnasse, for most of 1924, he lived at 15, rue de Nollet.

Hughes was inducted into the National Institute of Arts and Letters[?] in 1961. He wrote for both the Chicago Defender and the New York Post.

Quotation

"Motto"

I stay cool, and dig all jive,

That's the way I stay alive.

My motto, as I live and learn, is

Dig and be dug, in return.

A Poem by Langston Hughes: "Cross"

My old man's a white old man

And my old mother's black.

If ever I cursed my white old man

I take my curses back.

If ever I cursed my black old mother

And wished she were in hell,

I'm sorry for that evil wish

And now I wish her well.

My old man died in a fine big house.

My ma died in a shack.

I wonder where I'm gonna die,

Being neither white nor black.