Langston Hughes – or to give him his full name, James Mercer Langston Hughes – was one of the shining lights of the Harlem Renaissance, itself one of the shining moments of American 20th century history. His poetry and prose helped give voice to perhaps the first truly empowered generation of blacks in the United States as well as helping to define an historical moment and helped to provide a literary model of self-realization for African-Americans that continue to this day.