Andre Ward-Langston Hughes

I chose to write about Langston Hughes because i known him as a person who wrote poems and expressed his feelings about life. Born in Joplin, Missouri, James Langston Hughes was born into a family of abolotionist. He was the great-great-grandson of Charles Henry Hughes, the brother of John Mercer Langston, who was the first Black American to be elected to public office, in 1855. Hughes attended Central Highschool in Cleveland, Ohio, but began writing poetry in the eighth grade, and was selected as Class Poet. His father didnt think he would be able to make a living at writing, and encouraged him to pursue a more practical career. He paid his son's tuition to Columbia University on the grounds he study engineering. After a short time, Langston dropped out of the program with a B+ average; all the while he continued writing poetry.
His first published poem was also one of his most famous, "The Negro Speaks of Rivers", and it appeared in Brownie's Book. Later, his poems, short plays, essays and short stories appeared in the NAACP publication Crisis Magazine and in Opportunity Magazine and other publications. Here is some words from his poem from "The Negro Speaks of Rivers":
THE NEGRO SPEAKS OF RIVERS
By Langston Hughes
I've known rivers:
I've known rivers ancient as the world and older than the flow
of human blood in human veins.
My soul has grown deep like the rivers.
I bathed in the Euphrates when dawns were young.
I built my hut near the Congo and it lulled me to sleep.
I looked upon the Nile and raised the pyramids above it.
I heard the singing of the Mississippi when Abe Lincoln went
down to New Orleans, and I've seen its muddy bosom turn
all golden in the sunset.
I've known rivers:
Ancient, dusky rivers.
My soul has grown deep like the rivers.
1922