James Mercer Langston Hughes  lived ( February 1,1901 -May 22,1967), he was a american poet, social activist, novelist,playwright, and columnist from Joplin,Missouri.Hughes had a complex ancestry, both of Hughes paternal great grandmothers were enslaved African Americans and his Paternal great grandfathers were white slave owners in Kentucky. Hughes mother was a school teacher, his father left the family after Hughes was born and divorced Caroline Mercer Hughes mother.His father traveled to Cuba and then mexico to escape racism in the united states.Hughes was raised in Kansas by his maternal grandma she installed racial pride in him as a young boy.In Hughes autobiography “The Big Sea’ he wrote: “I was unhappy for a long time, and very lonesome, living with my grandmother. Then it was that books began to happen to me, and I began to believe in nothing but books and the wonderful world in books—where if people suffered, they suffered in beautiful language, not in monosyllables, as we did in Kansas”,this where his love for literature started.In 1925 Hughes poem ”The Weary Blues ” showed his poetic style and his dedication to his black heritage. This poem won first prize in in a Opportunity magazine literary competition, and he also received a scholarship to Lincoln university in Pennsylvania.

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