(Hulton Archive/Getty Images. American poet and writer Langston Hughes, circa 1944)
Born: February 01, 1902 in United States, Decatur, Alabama
"One of the most talented and prolific writers to emerge from the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s, Langston Hughes enjoyed a long and successful career as a poet and author of short stories, novels, magazine and newspaper articles, plays, and numerous other works. His respect for the lives of "plain Black people" resonated throughout everything he produced, as did his gentle, folksy humor and compassion tinged with sorrow. Early in his career, he endured criticism from those who felt he betrayed his race by portraying the less attractive aspects of Black-American life; later, he was rejected by a younger and more militant generation of Black-American writers for his reluctance to display bitterness or take a strong political stand in his writings. Through it all, Hughes remained true to his own vision of a world where most people were basically good and the future still offered hope that all races would one day live together in harmony and understanding." ("Langston Hughes." Contemporary Heroes and Heroines. Vol. 2. Gale, 1992. Gale Biography In Context. Web. 13 Feb. 2012.)
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Originally Posted by BillV on February 8, 2012