James Mercer Langston Hughes was born February 1st 1902 in Joplin Missouri. Hughes was an African-American poet, novelist, playwright, columnist, social activist and a key innovator of jazz poetry. Son of divorced parents, Hughes was raised by his grandmother until she died in his early teens. He then travelled with his mother finally settling in Cleveland, Ohio. During this time he started writing poetry. After graduating high school he lived with his father in Mexico and published his first and most famous poem ‘The Negro Speaks of Rivers’. He returned to the U.S. in 1921 and studied at Columbia University where he became a part of Harlem’s Renaissance. He then worked and travelled in various countries, published many poems including ‘The Weary Blues’ and got a scholarship to Lincoln University. He graduated in 1929 and then published many, novels, poems, plays, short stories and travelled the U.S, Soviet Union, Japan and Haiti. He became a columnist and wrote lyrics for Street Scene. He taught creative writing and lectured at the University of Chicago. In his time he publish over 60 works and won countless awards. He was one of the first African-American authors who could support themselves through their writing. He died on May 22nd, 1967 of cancer.