Langston Hughes was born in Mississippi on February 1, 1902. Soon after his birth, Langston's father abandoned Langston and his mother and moved to Mexico City, where he became a farmer. Langston was then put in his Grandmother's care. His grandmother introduced Langston to the liberating speeches of Booker T. Washington and the strong journalism of W.E.B. DuBois. Unfortunately, she died when he was twelve, and the Reeds, who were family friends, agreed to raise Langston.

After she remarried, Langston reunited with his mother. The new family moved around and eventually settled in Cleveland, where Langston began writing poetry. Hughes spent the next two summers in Mexico with his father, whom he disliked because of his judgmental attitude toward blacks and Mexicans. After the second summer, his father agreed to send Langston to Columbia.

Hughes preferred the streets of Harlem to Columbia, and he soon dropped...