Carrie Langston Hughes facts for kids

Carrie Langston with son, Langston Hughes, in 1902.

Carolina Mercer Langston (born January 18, 1873 – died June 3, 1938) was an American writer and actress. She was also the mother of the famous poet, playwright, and social activist Langston Hughes.

Early Life and Family

Carolina, often called Carrie, Mercer Langston was the daughter of Charles Langston and Mary Leary. Her mother, Mary Leary, was one of the first Black women to attend Oberlin College.

Carrie's Father: Charles Langston

Carrie Langston's father, Charles Howard Langston, was a strong supporter of ending slavery. He followed John Brown, a famous abolitionist who fought against slavery. Charles Langston was also involved in his community. He worked as an editor for a Black newspaper called Historic Times in Lawrence, Kansas. He also led local groups like the Colored Benevolent Society and the Black Masonic Fraternity.

Carrie's Uncle: John Mercer Langston

Carrie's uncle, John Mercer Langston, was also a very important person. After slavery ended, he became a congressman from Virginia. He also served as a diplomat in Haiti and was a dean at Howard University's Law School.

Carrie's Mother: Mary Leary

Mary Leary's first husband, Lewis Sheridan Leary, died helping John Brown during a raid at Harpers Ferry in 1859. His bloodied shirt, sent to Mary, became a very important family item. Years later, her grandson, Langston Hughes, kept it safely in a bank.

Carrie had other family members too. She had a foster brother named Desalines. She also had a half-sister named Loise and a brother named Nathaniel Turner Langston. Nathaniel was named after a famous leader of a slave revolt. Sadly, Nathaniel died young at age 27 in a flour-mill accident.

Public Life and Activism

By the age of fifteen, Carrie Mercer Langston was a well-known young woman in Lawrence, Kansas. When she was eighteen, she began reading her own writings and poems in public. She was a key member of the St. Luke's Progressive Club and was even chosen as a "Critic" by another group. In 1892, a newspaper called The American Citizen named Carrie Langston as one of the "most beautiful girls in Kansas."

Writing for Change

Langston wrote for The Atchison Blade, an African-American newspaper run by her family. In 1892, as a young Black woman, she wrote articles that challenged the idea that women were happy with their limited roles. Her father, who supported women's right to vote in Kansas, influenced her writing. She especially encouraged Black women to get involved in politics. She also spoke publicly about women in journalism and worked as a deputy clerk in a district court office.

Personal Life and Motherhood

Carrie Langston's first marriage was to James Hughes. They got married secretly in Oklahoma on April 30, 1899. They moved to Joplin, Missouri, where James worked as a stenographer. Carrie later became pregnant and gave birth to James Mercer Langston Hughes on February 1, 1902, in Joplin, Missouri.

James Hughes wanted to escape segregation in the U.S., so he moved to Mexico and became successful there. When Langston was five, Carrie took him to Mexico to meet his father. While they were there, a big earthquake happened in 1907. This event made Carrie and Langston quickly return to the United States. Young Langston saw the damage and people praying, which affected him deeply for the rest of his life.

Raising Langston Hughes

After returning to the U.S., Carrie often left Langston to be cared for by her mother, Mary Leary, in Lawrence, Kansas. Carrie would visit occasionally. She moved around a lot for jobs and because she got bored easily.

One time, Carrie tried to enroll Langston in a closer school in Topeka, but the principal wanted him to go to a more distant school for Black children. Carrie fought this decision with the Topeka Board of Education and won. However, Langston soon returned to live with his grandmother. Nearly fifty years later, a Supreme Court decision would end school segregation in the United States, affecting the same school board.

Carrie Langston used different names throughout her life, including Caroline Langston, Carolyn Hughes, and Carrie Clark.

Later Life

Carrie's parents passed away (her father in 1892, her mother in 1915). This left her without the support and social connections they had provided. Her second husband, Homer Clark, had a son named Gwyn Shannon Clark, who lived with Carrie for most of her adult life.

In March 1933, Carrie Langston achieved a lifelong dream: she became an actress on Broadway. She appeared in the play Run, Little Chillun.

James Nathaniel Hughes, Langston Hughes's father, died in 1934. Carrie Langston was friends with the famous writer Zora Neale Hurston.

Images for kids

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  Carrie Langston with son, Langston Hughes, in 1902.