Langston Hughes: The Harlem Renaissance

The Harlem Renaissance was an explosion of African American literary, musical, and artistic culture that took place between the 1920s and mid-1930s. It was a time of intellectual and social growth for the black community. During this period, Harlem was a cultural hub attracting black artists, musicians, poets, and writers. Among those artists whose works attained recognition was Langston Hughes. His fierce ethnic pride would influence numerous foreign black writers like Jacques Roumain, Nicolás Guillén, Léopold Sédar Senghor, and Aimé Césaire. Hughes was an African American novelist, social activist, playwright, and poet.

Joplin, Missouri was the birthplace of James Mercer Langston Hughes. Due to his parents being separated at a young age,