Born: February 1, 1902, Joplin, MO

Education: Columbia University, 1921–22; Lincoln University (PA), B.A., 1929

Died: May 22, 1967, New York, NY

Called “the Negro Poet Laureate,” Hughes emerged in the Harlem Renaissance and became one of the leading American writers. He wrote novels, short stories, children's stories, plays, magazine and newspaper series, nonfiction books, essays, and more. Generations of schoolchildren learned about his first poem, “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” (1921), published in The Crisis.

Hughes advocated black consciousness and pride, civil and human rights, and justice for all. “We younger Negro artists who create now intend to express our individual dark-skinned selves without fear or shame” (Lewis, 1997, p. 191), he stated in 1926. His play Don't You Want to Be Free? (1938) thrived in Harlem, Chicago, and Los Angeles black theaters, which he founded with support from the Federal Theatre Project. Moreover, he joined communist-led protests to free the “Scottsboro Boys,” Alabama youths falsely accused of raping two white women, and to gain workers’ right to organize. Using poetry, prose, and protest, whether on behalf the NAACP, Congress of Industrial Organizations, or the United Nations, he spoke out and acted for racial, ethnic, and economic equality; integration; and peace. He also recognized the risk of democratic dissent: “Don't say it– because you might be declared subversive– but we want freedom” (Hughes and De Santis, 2001, p. 198).