Langsten Hughes

Langsten Hughes was a black poet during the 1920s, who was the first person to write "Jazz poetry". Hughes was presented with many awards, although he received only two in his lifetime for his poetry. He is also accredited with initiating the "Harlem Renaissance" by writing about how "the negro was in vogue."

Hughes was mainly concerned with the condition of the black population in the US and wrote to uplift his race, supporting the "black is beautiful" mindset. He wrote mostly about black working class people and all the aspects of their life. He commented that his work obliquely depicted the lives of all Americans, not just blacks. Later in his career, Hughes would help in screenwriting for several movies and plays, both in the US and abroad, about the condition of black people in the United States.

Hughes, like a lot of black American artists of the time, supported communist ideals rather than segregation. He took several trips to Russia in an attempt to shed light on issues of black citizens, but political pressure from other governments prevented Russia from making the movie. Langsten Hughes later died from complications after a procedure to treat prostate cancer.