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Langston Hughes was born in Joplin, Missouri. His parents split up when he was at a young age so he went to live with his grandmother, until moving to illinois to live with his mom and step father.
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Langston Hughes graduates from primary school and is elected class poet. Soon after, his family settles in Cleveland, Ohio.
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Langston Hughes graduates from high school in Cleveland and moves to Mexico to be with his father. On the train, Hughes writes the poem "The Negro Speaks of Rivers."
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"The Negro Speaks of Rivers" is published in the NCAAP journal Crisis.
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Hughes moves to Washington, D.C. While bussing tables at the Wardman Park Hotel, Hughes slips some of his poems on Lindsay's table. Lindsay puts the Langston in touch with editors at Knopf.
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Langston Hughes publishes his first book
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He receives a Bachelor of Arts degree from Lincoln University in Pennsylvania, which he had a scholarship to attend. The he moved back to New York where he lived the rest of his life
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Not Without Laughter, Hughes's debut novel, is published. It earns Hughes the Harmon Gold Medal for Literature.
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Hughes is awarded the Guggenheim Fellowship. His play The Mulatto is his first to open on Broadway.
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Hughes receives the Spingarn Medal from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, for outstanding achievement by a black American.
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Hughes is elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
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Langston Hughes dies of complications from prostate cancer. The New York City Preservation Commission later makes his home at 20 East 127th Street a city landmark.
