Montage of a Dream Deferred

James Mercer Langston Hughes was born on February 1, 1902, in Joplin Missouri to Carrie Mercer Langston Hughes and James Nathaniel Hughes. Shortly after he was born his parents separated. Hughes lived his entire childhood with his mother, maternal grandmother, and family friends. His father moved from the U.S to various other places where he finally settled down in Mexico as a lawyer and businessman. Despite this fact, Hughes grew up in dire poverty. While Hughes was in his early teens, his mother attended college for a year, but was unable to continue attending because she was unable to find a job that could help pay for her schooling. She moved from city to city trying to find work while Hughes stayed with his grandmother. After her death in 1914 Hughes lived with her friends the Reeds, where for the first time he had enough to eat.
Hughes then went to Lincoln, Illinois, to live with his mother. There he started writing poetry after he was elected class poet by his gr...