Langston Hughes’ early life prepared him well to write about humanity, for as a child and young man he lived in different places and met many different kinds of people. His growing up years were, altogether, not very happy. But they provided him with experiences that many people never have. Born to Nathanial Hughes and Carrie Mercere on February 1, 1902 in Joplin Missouri, young Langston form the very start was a very bright and curious child (Haskins 2). But his home life was neither happy not very secur

e. His parents did not get along well. There were often many arguments about money. Mr. Hughes was a “penny – pincher”; he seemed to resent event the necessary expenses, except when it came to clothes for himself. There were also arguments about moving. Mr. Hughes was a lawyer, Langston’s mother thought her husband would be able to find work in another city, however Mr. Hughes was convinced there was no city in the racially segregated United States where he could find opportunity. Finally, Mr. Hughes announced that he was leaving.

When the school year ended, and there was no more money coming from is father, Hughes started to work odd jobs around New York. He delivered flowers, worked on a truck farm and eventually became a sailor. By the time Hughes was 22 he had seen most of the western world, had and held a variety of jobs and many lively and eccentric people. The few poems that he published at this time were frequently a reflection of his travels. This period in Hughes life pretty free from care since racial injustice was easy to forget in Europe, while back in the States the same problems plagued the Negro. He returned to Washington D.C., and took a job at the Wardman Park Hotel. Langston was fascinated by black music especially the blues. It seemed to express for him the sadness and pain and capacity to endure that characterized black people of America. (Haskins 29). At this time Hughes began to incorporate the blues and spirituals into his poetry. “The Weary Blues” was Hughes first and maybe most famous piece which benefited form his use of the blues and spirituals. “The Weary Blues” written in 1925 won a literary prize from the Crises, and with this Hughes earned a publishing contract with Vanity Fair (Emanuel 32).

Hughes spent a lonely boyhood after his mother and father split, living his first twelve years with his grandparents and friends of the family in Lawrence, Kansas. His mother finally called for him, and they mov

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