James Mercer Langston Hughes (February 1, 1902 May 22, 1967) was an American

poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist. He was one of the earliest innovators of
the then-new literary art form jazz poetry. Hughes is best known for his work during the Harlem
Renaissance. He famously wrote about the period that "the negro was in vogue" which was later
paraphrased as "when Harlem was in vogue".
I use a mix color briefcase shoulder bag to contain Hughes items. It is made of genuine
leather with cloth inside. I think it is fitted for a poet. Its colors are black (outside) and cofffe
(inside). The reason why I use a mix color bag is because Hughes is a mixed person himself.
Both of Hughes' paternal and maternal great-grandmothers were African-American, his maternal
great-grandfather was white and of Scottish descent. A paternal great-grandfather was of
European Jewish descent.Hughes's maternal grandmother Mary Patterson was of AfricanAmerican, French, English and Native American descent. Such a mixed background must have
had a great impact on Hughes identity and his point if view.
Langston Hughes was born in Joplin, Missouri, the second child of school teacher Carrie
(Caroline) Mercer Langston and James Nathaniel Hughes. Hughes's father left his family and
later divorced Carrie, going to Cuba, and then Mexico, seeking to escape the enduring racism in
the United States.[8] After the separation of his parents, while his mother travelled seeking
employment, young Langston Hughes was raised mainly by his maternal grandmother, Mary
Patterson Langston, in Lawrence, Kansas. After the death of his grandmother, he went to live
with family friends, James and Mary Reed, for two years. Because of the unstable early life, his
childhood was not an entirely happy one, but it strongly influenced the poet he would become.
Later, Hughes lived again with his mother Carrie in Lincoln, Illinois. She had remarried when he
was still an adolescent, and eventually they lived in Cleveland, Ohio, where he attended high
school. I put in a divided house to represent the separation of Hughes parents and his not-sohappy childhood.
In 1925, Hughes settled in Washington, D.C and took a job busing tables at a hotel
restaurant (Bussers typically clear dirty dishes into bus tubs or bus boxes. They store cleared
items in the bus box or tray and take to the kitchen's dish washing area. Bussers often use larger
tubs or trays to lessen the number of trips). There he encountered the poet Vachel Lindsay, with
whom he shared some poems. Impressed with the poems, Lindsay publicized his discovery of a
new black poet. He was dubbed busboy poet. I put in a bus tube to represent this important
turning point of Hughes.
Hughes was an significant poet, novelist, playwright, and columnist of his age. He
discovered his love of book and poetry when he was elected as class poet by his classmates.
During high school in Cleveland, Ohio, he wrote for the school newspaper, edited the yearbook,
and began to write his first short stories, poetry, and dramatic plays. In fact, Hughes was one of
the first African-American to earn a living solely form writing. Hence, I use quill pen, ink and
papers to symbolize his literature career.
Hughes is best known for his work during the Harlem Renaissance. He was one of the
earliest innovators of the then-new literary art form jazz poetry. Jazz poetry is poetry that
"demonstrates jazz-like rhythm or the feel of improvisation". Langston Hughes incorporated the

syncopated rhythms and repetitive phrases of blues and jazz music into his writing sich as
Montage of a Dream Deferred. As a result, I put in a saxophone the dominant instrumental
in jazz music to demonstrate Hughes style and the Jazz Age he lived in.
I put in a hammer, which is often uesd as a symbol for urban/industrial working class.
Hughes and his fellows tried to depict the "low-life" in their art, that is, the real lives of blacks in
the lower social-economic strata. Therefore, he was dubbed the poet low-rate by some AfricanAmerican intellectuals. His writings center on poor and working-class African American, a group
whom literature had generally ignored. Hughes and his fellows tried to depict the "low-life" in
their art, that is, the real lives of blacks in the lower social-economic strata. His gritty depiction
of workers and job hunters angered some African-American critics who felt that members of
the race should always be portrayed in the best possible light. Hughes responded to these
criticism, saying, I only knew the people I had grown up with, and they werent people whose
shoes are always shinedBut they seemed to me good people, too.
On the train journey south, Hughes composed what would become one of his most
famous poem, The Negro Speaks of Rivers. It eventually became Hughes signature poem.
After his death, Hughes ashes are interred beneath a floor medallion in the middle of the foyer in
the Arthur Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem. The design on the floor
covering his ashes is an African cosmogram titled Rivers. Within the center of the cosmogram,
above his ashes, is the line taken from the poem: "My soul has grown deep like the rivers". I put
in a picture of Missouri River, which flows through his homeland, to symbolize his love for
rivers as well as his black culture and legacy which flows from ancient times till the moment.