1. 

2.  Born in Joplin, Missouri on February 1, 1902.  Began writing poetry in 8 th grade.  Attended Columbia University and was supposed to study engineering. Hughes dropped out after one year and continued his writing career.

3.  First published poem was “The Negro Speaks of Rivers,” and it was published in 1921.  Never married.  Died in 1967 due to abdominal surgical complications.

4.  Hughes helped create a magazine called Fire! that was devoted to younger black artists.  Worked various jobs and traveled the world.  A favorite pastime was sitting in clubs listening to blues, jazz, and writing poems.

5.  Was accused of being a communist.  Hughes’s life has been portrayed in many film and stage productions.

6.  Dreams  As I Grew Older  Mother to Son  I, Too  50-50  Acceptance  Bad Morning  Catch “To fling my arms wide In some place of the sun, To whirl and to dance Till the white day is done.”

7.  “…it gains its momentum it moves as swiftly as a jazz rhythm.”  “Hughes is a talented writer.”  “Langston Hughes can write pages that throb with the abrupt rhythms of popular music.”  “Neither his imagination nor his intelligence comes anywhere near the strength of his emotions.”  “He has strong emotions”