Hughes

James Mercer Langston Hughes was born on the first of February, 1902 in Joplin, Missouri. After his parents got into a lengthy divorce he was forced to live with his grandmother. He did so until he turned thirteen at which he moved in with his mother, Caroline Mercer Langston, and her husband at the time. He began writing poetry during high school and continued to do so through his college years at Columbia University. He started out writing books not too long after his college years. He often wrote from the position of a black man in America pointing out how "America is not America to me" and that "I, too, am America". These controversial writings sparked influencing ideas into the minds of many of his readers. He remarked upon religion, racial, and cultural view points of the world, especially America. However, he sadly died of prostate cancer on May 22, 1967.