Langston Hughes Research Paper
Chapter 1
Poet Laureate Langston Hughes was born James Mercer Langston Hughes on February 1, 1902, in Joplin, Missouri into an abolitionist family (Hilstrom). As a child Hughes wrote a lot about being lonely. He didn’t have a very stable life style because His parents, James Hughes and Carrie Langston, separated soon after his birth, and his father moved to Mexico. While Hughes’s mother moved around a lot during his youth, which he continued to do as he grew older. Hughes attended Central High School in Cleveland, Ohio, but began writing poetry in the eighth grade, and was selected as Class Poet (Hilstrom). His father didn't think he would be able to make a living at writing, and encouraged him to pursue a more practical career. He agreed to pay his son's tuition to Columbia University on the grounds he studies engineering. After a short time, Langston dropped out of the program with a B+ average; all the while he continued writing poetry. His first published poem was also one of his most famous, "The Negro Speaks of Rivers", …show more content…
Hughes received a B.A. degree from Lincoln University in 1929 and a Litt.D. in 1943 from Lincoln. A second honorary doctorate would be awarded to him in 1963 by Howard University, another HBCU. Except for travels that included parts of the Caribbean and West Indies, Harlem was Hughes’s primary home for the remainder of his life.
On May 22, 1967, Hughes died from complications after abdominal surgery related to prostate cancer at the age of 65. His ashes are interred beneath a floor medallion in the middle of the foyer leading to the auditorium named for him within the Arthur Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem. Many of Hughes' papers reside in the Langston Hughes Memorial Library on the campus of Lincoln University, PA as well as at the James Weldon Johnson Collection within the Yale University Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript
Poet Laureate Langston Hughes was born James Mercer Langston Hughes on February 1, 1902, in Joplin, Missouri into an abolitionist family (Hilstrom). As a child Hughes wrote a lot about being lonely. He didn’t have a very stable life style because His parents, James Hughes and Carrie Langston, separated soon after his birth, and his father moved to Mexico. While Hughes’s mother moved around a lot during his youth, which he continued to do as he grew older. Hughes attended Central High School in Cleveland, Ohio, but began writing poetry in the eighth grade, and was selected as Class Poet (Hilstrom). His father didn't think he would be able to make a living at writing, and encouraged him to pursue a more practical career. He agreed to pay his son's tuition to Columbia University on the grounds he studies engineering. After a short time, Langston dropped out of the program with a B+ average; all the while he continued writing poetry. His first published poem was also one of his most famous, "The Negro Speaks of Rivers", …show more content…
Hughes received a B.A. degree from Lincoln University in 1929 and a Litt.D. in 1943 from Lincoln. A second honorary doctorate would be awarded to him in 1963 by Howard University, another HBCU. Except for travels that included parts of the Caribbean and West Indies, Harlem was Hughes’s primary home for the remainder of his life.
On May 22, 1967, Hughes died from complications after abdominal surgery related to prostate cancer at the age of 65. His ashes are interred beneath a floor medallion in the middle of the foyer leading to the auditorium named for him within the Arthur Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem. Many of Hughes' papers reside in the Langston Hughes Memorial Library on the campus of Lincoln University, PA as well as at the James Weldon Johnson Collection within the Yale University Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript