James Mercer Langston Hughes was an American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist from Joplin, Missouri. One of the earliest innovators of the literary art form called jazz poetry, Hughes is best known as a leader of the Harlem Renaissance. He famously wrote about the period that "the Negro was in vogue", which was later paraphrased as "when Harlem was in vogue."
Portrait by Carl Van Vechten, 1936
Hughes in 1902
Hughes at Lincoln University in 1928
Hughes's ashes are interred under a cosmogram medallion in the foyer of the Arthur Schomburg Center in Harlem
Joplin is a city in Jasper and Newton counties in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Missouri. The bulk of the city is in Jasper County, while the southern portion is in Newton County. Joplin is the largest city located within both Jasper and Newton Counties – even though it is not the county seat of either county. With a population of 51,762 as of the 2020 census, Joplin is the 13th most-populous city in the state. The city covers an area of 35.69 square miles (92.41 km2) on the outer edge of the Ozark Mountains. Joplin is the main hub of the three-county Joplin-Miami, Missouri-Oklahoma Metro area, which is home to 210,077 people making it the 5th largest metropolitan area in Missouri. In May 2011, a violent EF5 tornado killed more than 150 people and destroyed one-third of the city.
Aerial view of downtown Joplin, 2009. The bridge is 2nd Street and the intersection is 2nd St. and Virginia Ave.
Main Street, below 5th Street, c. 1910
Panorama of Joplin, in 1910
Bonnie and Clyde, photo developed by the Joplin Globe after the shootout