Langston Hughes in The 1920s

Langston Hughes in The 1920s

Langston Hughes (1902–1967) was an African-American poet, novelist, and playwright. He remains beloved especially for his poetry, and is considered one of America's greatest poets.

During the 1920s, Hughes was one of the leading figures of the Harlem Renaissance, an explosion of Black cultural vitality that sprang up in the African-American enclave of Harlem, New York. One of Hughes' most famous poems, "Harlem (Dream Deferred)" is a powerful statement of burgeoning Black intellectualism in an age of racial oppression.