• James Mercer Langston Hughes was born on February 1st, 1902 in Joplin, Missouri
• American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist
• Early innovator of jazz poetry
• Published first poem The Weary Blues in 1926
• Witter Bynner Undergraduate Poetry Prize in 1926
• Published Fine Clothes to a Jew in 1927
• Earned Bachelor of Arts from Lincoln University in 1929
• Published novel Not Without Laughter in 1930
• Co-wrote play Mule Bone with Zora Neale Hurston in 1931
• Published short story The Ways of White Folks in 1934
• Awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1935
• Let America Be America Again, published poem in 1935
• Columnist for the Chicago Defender from 1942-62
• Awarded honorary Doctor of Letters from Lincoln University in 1943
• Published Montage of a Dream Deferred in 1951
• Awarded the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award in 1954
• Awarded Spingarn Medal in 1960
• Wrote play Black Nativity in 1961
• Awarded an honorary doctorate from Howard University in 1963
• Wrote play Jericho-Jim Crow in 1964
• Died at the age of 65 on May 27, 1967

Added Reading: http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/langston-hughes, http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/g_l/hughes/life.htm