Langston Hughes Boyhood Home

Langston Hughes, an acclaimed African American writer, is known for his insightful portrayals of Black life in America from the 1920s to the 1960s. Langston wrote novels, short stories, plays, and poetry, including an innovative type of poetry referred to as jazz poetry. His work contributed mightily to the 1920s Harlem Renaissance. Additionally, he wrote a weekly column for The Chicago Defender, a leading Black newspaper, from 1942 to 1962. Although he only lived in Topeka briefly, recent evidence demonstrated that the historic Queen Anne home served as his boyhood home from around age one to seven when he moved to Lawrence, Kansas. At age six, his mother successfully enrolled him in a nearby, predominantly White school, despite their initial efforts to steer him to a school located further away (where African Americans attended). 

Langston Hughes, born in 1901 in Joplin, Missouri, lived in Topeka as a boy until the age of seven. His mother, a native Kansan and daughter of free Black homesteaders in the 1870s, moved to Kansas City for work when Langston was seven years old. She left him in the care of his elderly (aged well into her 70s) maternal grandmother in Lawrence, Kansas. In his autobiography, The Big Sea, Langston explained that he was exceptionally lonely and unhappy living with his grandmother but found solace in books. 

In the seventh grade, Langston served as Class Poet. Shortly thereafter, he moved back with his mother to Lincoln, Illinois, and then to Cleveland, where he attended high school. From there, Langston traveled to Latin America, Africa, and Europe. He published his first poem, "The Negro Speaks of Rivers," in 1921. The poem appeared in The Crisis, the official magazine of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), and then included in his first book of poetry, The Weary Blues (1926), which he completed at age twenty-four. In 1930 his first novel, Not Without Laughter, won the Harmon gold medal for literature. Hughes wrote insightful portrayals of Black life in America from the 1920s to the 1960s through his poetry, novels, short stories, and the eleven plays he composed. Rather than interject his personal stories into his writing, he aimed to tell stories that shed light on African American culture, which included their love of music, laughter, and language, alongside their struggles and heartaches. 

Although well-traveled, he eventually landed in New York City's Harlem community, where he spent the bulk of his adult life. While there, he grew fond of jazz, which influenced his writing. Indeed, he became one of the first to write "jazz poetry," one of the factors that made Langston a significant figure in the "Harlem Renaissance," a wave of Black culture that grew out of Harlem in the 1920s and 1930s. 

He matured into the only Black writer able to make a living entirely from his writing (a challenging task for writers of any race) and still enjoys a reputation as one of America's greatest writers. 

Anderson, Phil. "Historic house offers promising future: Poet Langston Hughes once resided in S.W. Taylor home." The Topeka Capital-Journal. cjonline.com. January 21, 2012. https://www.cjonline.com/story/news/local/2012/01/21/historic-house-offers-promising-future/16433549007/.

"Harlem Renaissance." History Channel. history.com. January 11, 2023. https://www.history.com/topics/roaring-twenties/harlem-renaissance. 

"Langston Hughes." A&E; Television Networks. Biography.com. January 21, 2021. https://www.biography.com/authors-writers/langston-hughes#death-and-legacy

"Langston Hughes."  Kansas Historical Society. August 2018. https://www.kshs.org/kansapedia/langston-hughes/15506.

"Langston Hughes." Map of Kansas Literature. Accessed April 5, 2023. https://www.washburn.edu/reference/cks/mapping/hughes/index.html.

"Langston Hughes: 1901–1967." poets.org. Accessed April 4, 2023. https://poets.org/poet/langston-hughes.