James Mercer Hughes (1901 - 1967)

Born 1 Feb 1901 in Joplin, Jasper County, Missouri, United States

Ancestors

Died 22 May 1967 at age 66 in New York City, New York County, New York, United States

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Biography

Langston Hughes is Notable.

Langston Hughes was awarded the Spingarn Medal for outstanding achievement by an African American.

Langston Hughes was a poet, fiction writer, playwright, columnist and a leader of the Harlem Renaissance.^[1]

Langston Hughes was born on 01 Feb 1902 in Joplin, Missouri to parents James Hughes and Carrie Langston. So he believed and so say the available records such as his passport application and the cosmogram at the Schomburg Center of the New York Public Library where his ashes rest.

Recently it was discovered that he was alive prior to his suggested birth ^[2] which has now been revised by a year to 01 Feb 1901. ^[3]

He was the son of school teacher Carrie (Caroline) Mercer Langston (c1872-1938) and James Nathaniel Hughes (1871-1934). His father left the family, divorced Carrie, moved to Cuba and then to Mexico, to escape the racism prevalent in the United States. ^[4]

Langston Hughes grew up in Lawrence, Kansas and Lincoln, Illinois and Cleveland, Ohio. Despite racial prejudices, poverty and an absentee father, he discovered early in life that he wanted to write poetry and stuck to that dream. He wanted to attend Columbia University in New York, so with some difficulty, he visited his father in Mexico and was able to convince him to pay for his education. ^[4]

He fell in love with Harlem, New York, but was not as happy with Columbia, so eventually left without finishing his degree. He worked many jobs that allowed him the time to write. He spent some time working on ships that carried cargo, and so was able to visit Africa and Europe and spent time in Paris, France. ^[5]

He returned to the United States and lived some time in Washington, DC. During these early years many of his works were published, but in 1925, a collection of his poetry was being published by a major publisher (Alfred Knopf). At the time he was working as a busboy at the Wardman Park Hotel. Slipping three poems onto the dining table of Vachel Lindsay, a well known American poet, was a ploy by Langston to get publicity for his new book. Lindsay took the bait, read the poems at his own poetry reading and "discovered" Langston Hughes. ^[5]

In 1929 Langston earned a B.A. degree from Lincoln University, in Chester County, Pennsylvania. ^[4] Langston never married and he considered home to be "a tenement neighborhood in the heart of Harlem". ^[6].

Langston drew his inspiration from the street sounds of Harlem. He created a "lifelong flow of warm and sensitive novels, poems, stories and plays" about African American life. ^[6]

Langston Hughes died on 22 May 1967 at the Polyclinic Hospital in New York where he had undergone surgery a few days before. ^{[6] [7]}

Heritage

Both of Langston's paternal and maternal great-grandmothers were African-American, his maternal great-grandfather was white and of Scottish descent. A paternal great-grandfather was of European Jewish descent. Langston's maternal grandmother Mary Patterson was of African-American, French, English and Native American descent. One of the first women to attend Oberlin College, she first married Lewis Sheridan Leary, also of mixed race. Lewis Sheridan Leary subsequently joined John Brown's Raid on Harper's Ferry in 1859 and died from his wounds.

In 1869 the widow Mary Patterson Leary married again, into the elite, politically active Langston family. Her second husband was Charles Henry Langston, of African American, Native American, and Euro-American ancestry. ^[4]

Sources

1. ↑ Wikipedia: Langston Hughes
2. ↑ "Topeka Plain Dealer" newspaper with short newsy articles of 20 Dec 1901; 17 May 1901; 17 Jan 1902; the first announced he had been ill but was recovering; the last two were that he and his mother were visiting friends.
3. ↑ "Langston Hughes just Got a Year Older" by Jennifer Schuessler & published in the "New York Times" newspaper on 09 Aug 2018.
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3} Biography of Langston Hughes
5. ↑ ^{5.0 5.1} "Langston Hughes: The Harlem Renaissance" by Maurice Orlando Wallace, p37-38.
6. ↑ ^{6.0 6.1 6.2} "Langston Hughes, Novelist, Depicted Negro Life in U.S." by Associated Press & published in the "Boston Herald" newspaper on 24 May 1967 p16.
7. ↑ Find A Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/6166005 : accessed 02 February 2020), memorial page for Langston Hughes (1 Feb 1902–22 May 1967), Find A Grave Memorial no. 6166005, ; Maintained by Find A Grave Cremated, Other, who reports a Ashes located under the floor, beneath an engraving of one of his famed poems within the Arthur Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem, New York..

• 1880 USA Census of Charlestown, Clark County, Indiana; index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/MHMN-T5V ) citing National Archives and Records Administration in Washington, DC; NARA#T9; roll#0269; FHL#1,254,269; ed#24, sheet#51A; which included ...

KY 50 Hughes James

KY 43 Hughes Emma (wife)

IN 23 Hughes Maggie (daughter)

IN 13 Hughes Mary (daughter)

IN 11 Hughes Mattie (daughter)

IN 09 Hughes James M. (son)

IN 06 Hughes Sallie (daughter)

IN 02 Hughes John (son)

IN 69 Fields Kittie (mother).

• 1880 USA Census of Wakarusa, Douglas County, Kansas; index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/MFPY-GHB) citing National Archives and Records Administration in Washington, DC; NARA#T9; roll#0380; FHL#1,254,380; ed#75, sheet#209A; which included ...

VA 63 Langston C. H.

NC 43 Langston Mary S. (wife)

KS 10 Langston Nathaniel T. (son)

KS 08 Langston Caroline H. (daughter)

NC 60 Simpson Joanna (mother-in-law).

• 1900 USA Census of Ward#2, Joplin City, Galena Twp, Jasper County, Missouri; index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/M3ZW-151) citing National Archives and Records Administration in Washington, DC; NARA#T623; FHL#1,240,865; sheet#7B, family#153; which included ...

30 Hughes James M., b: Jul 1870 IN; m: 1yr

28 Hughes Carrie M., b: Feb 1872 KS VA/NC (wife).

• 1910 USA Census of Ward#1, Lawrence, Douglas County, Kansas, USA; index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/M2C7-3YD) citing National Archives and Records Administration in Washington, DC; NARA#T624; FHL#1,374,451; ed#64, sheet#9B, family#223;

NC 73 Langston, Mary S. (head)

MO 09 Hughes, Langston (grandson).

• 1950 Census: "1950 United States Federal Census"
  United States of America, Bureau of the Census; Washington, D.C.; Seventeenth Census of the United States, 1950; Record Group: Records of the Bureau of the Census, 1790-2007; Record Group Number: 29; Residence Date: 1950; Home in 1950: New York, New York, New York; Roll: 5876; Sheet Number: 36; Enumeration District: 31-1566
  Ancestry Sharing Link - Ancestry Record 62308 #293614124 (accessed 16 March 2023)
  Longston Hughes (48), single, Song Wrighter, head of household in New York, New York, New York, USA. Born in Missouri.

• Kansas State Census Collection 1855-1925 on ancestry.com

• U.S. Passport Applications 1795-1925 on ancestry.com

• United States Passport Applications 1795-1925 index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/QV5B-273P) citing National Archives and Records Administration in Washington DC; NARA#M1490 & M1372; Passport Application, Ohio, USA; Passport Applications (02 Jan 1906-31 Mar 1925) #1285; certificate #63271 on June 1920 for James Langston Hughes, b: 01 Feb 1902 Joplin, MO; res: Cleveland, OH (student) [father: James N. Hughes, b: Charlestown, Indiana; res: Toluca, Mexico]

• "New York, Passenger Arrival Lists (Ellis Island), 1892-1924" index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/J62J-8TG) citing National Archives and Records Administration in Washington, DC; NARA#T715 & M237; Passenger List - ship: Monterey; departure: Vera Cruz, Mexico; arrival: 04 Sep 1921 New York; for James L. Hughes @19; res: Cleveland, OH;

• [https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1951-22093-46503-87?cc=1923888 Passenger List, ship: SS DeGrasse; departure: Southampton, England; arrival: 19 Sep 1938 New York; for Langston Hughes, @36 (single male) b: 01 Feb 1902 Joplin, MO; address: 534 St. Nicholas Avenue in New York, NY.

• New York, New York Passenger and Crew Lists, 1909, 1925-1957" index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/242X-H21) citing National Archives and Records Administration in Washington, DC; NARA#T715; FHL#1,757,957; Immigration, New York, New York, USA; for Langston Hughes, immig: 1938.

• Detailed biography of Langston Hughes

• Geni Family Tree showing great-grandparents, with some sources

• Langston Hughes in Lawrence, Kansas, his boyhood home

• His Kansas and Kentucky heritage

• [http://www.nytimes.com/books/98/12/06/specials/rampersad-hughes.html Review of "The Life of Langston HUGHES" v1 1902-1941 "I, Too, Sing America" by Arnold Rampersad.

• Langston Hughes: The Harlem Renaissance

• His white Quarles ancestors

• His Jewish ancestry

• Ancestors of Capt. Henry Batte (1642) by WARGS; descendants include Langston Hughes; ancestors include Plantagenets.

• California, Biographical Index Cards 1781-1990 on ancestry.com

• Ancestry Family Tree submitted by Ancestry member https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/tree/88444411/family

See also:

• Wikidata: Item Q188093, en:Wikipedia