Langston Hughes
Langston Hughes, the author of "Life is Fine", was born in 1902 in Joplin,
Missouri. His full name was James Langston Hughes. When his
parents divorced when he was a little child, his grandmother took him in
and raised him until he was 13 years old. She lived in Lawrence, Kansas.
When his grandmother died, he went to live with his mother in Illinois
and later in Cleveland, Ohio. Langston also spent a year living with his
father in Mexico, but they didn't get along. He started writing poetry
when he was in high school. He attended Columbia University, which
Negros could attend at that time, in 1921. That is when he discovered
the Harlem area of New York City. This was during the Harlem Renaissance
when Negros were taking pride in their literature, music and art. He
was inspired by jazz music so most of his poems have a beat to them, including
this one. His writings showed that noWhites could ever experience a
Negro's life. When he was older, some peoploe called
Langston Hughes the "Poet Laureate of the Negro Race." Langston
Hughes died in 1967.
Source: http://www.ukans.edu/kansas/crossingboundaries/page6e1.html
Young Langston Hughes
Source:
http://trackstar.hprtec.org/main/track_frames.php3?track_id=94311&nocache=258413077
The famous poet Langston Hughes
Source:
http://www.oplin.lib.oh.us/products.ohioana/lhughes/LANGSTON.HTML