James Langston Hughes died of prostate cancer on May 22, 1967, in New York. His residence at 20 East 127th Street in Harlem, New York City has been given landmark status by New York City Preservation Commission and renamed “Langston Hughes Place.”

In 1969, the Langston Hughes Community Library and Cultural Center opened. It was the first public institution named after the Poet Laureate and it houses the largest circulating Black Heritage reading collection in New York City.

Langston claimed Paul Lawrence Dunbar, Carl Sandburg, and Walt Whitman as his inspirations for being a poet. Hughes is known for his insightful, colorful portrayals of black life in America from the 20’s to the 60’s. Unlike other notable black poets of the Renaissance period, he refused to differentiate between personal experience and the common experience of blacks in America. Hughes wanted to tell the tales of his people in a way that reflected their culture, including both suffering and their love for music, laughter and language itself. He was a poet of the people and saw the beauty in the wisdom, humor, and strength of the people he portrayed. He has help influence the careers of many young people. His skill and insight to the Negro people is comparable to Chaucer’s treatment of his Canterbury pilgrims. He also took a political stand in the 1930’s when he helped support for the release of the Scottsboro Boys. This was the prosecution of 9 black boys who were indicted in Scottsboro, Alabama on March 31, 1931. They were charged with having raped 2 white girls in a railroad freight car. Medical reports showed no rape had occurred. 8 of the boys were convic

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