We are proud to celebrate Black History Month in conjunction with Black Futures Month at HBW. Each day we will feature works from our archives that celebrate the glory that is #BlackExcellence and the Black freedom movement.

Today we start with Langston Hughes, born on this day in 1902 in Joplin, Missouri. A poet, novelist, playwright, and essayist Hughes spent part of his childhood right here in Lawrence, KS. To learn more you can explore our Black Literary Suite: Kansas Authors Edition.

“I began to think back to Nat Turner, Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, John Brown, Fred Douglass – folks who left no buildings behind them – only a wind of words fanning the bright flame of the spirit down the dark lanes of time.” – Langston Hughes, The Big Sea: An Autobiography