Langston Hughes is regarded as one of the most significant American authors of the twentieth century. Foremost a poet, he was the first African-American to earn a living solely from his writings after he became established. Over a forty-year career beginning in the 1920s until his death in 1967, Hughes produced poetry, plays, novels, and a variety of nonfiction. He is perhaps best known for his creation of the fictional character, Jesse B. Semple, which first appeared in a Chicago Defender newspaper column in 1943. Hughes' writings focused mainly on the lives of plain black people and show their beauty, wisdom, and strength to overcome social and economic injustice.
Although Hughes traveled extensively and later called New York City home, this biographical sketch focuses on his stay in Washington, D.C. from November 1924 to January 1926. Black Washington's middle class community experienced a literary rebirth during the 1920s. Eventually, some writers took their skills to Harlem,......
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