James Langston Hughes

James Langston Hughes (1902-1967) was born in Joplin, Missouri, USA, the great-great-grandson of Charles Henry Langston (brother of John Mercer Langston, the first Black American to be elected to public office). He attended Central High School in Cleveland, Ohio, where he began writing poetry in the eighth grade. His father would discourage him from pursuing writing as a career, in favor of something 'more practical'. Langston's tuition fees to Columbia University were paid on the grounds that he study engineering.

The Dream Keeper

Bring me all of your dreams,

You dreamer,

Bring me all your

Heart melodies

That I may wrap the

In a blue cloud-cloth

Away from the too-rough fingers

Of the world.

— Langston Hughes