Short Stories/ Novels
Novelist / Columnist
After graduating from Lincoln in 1929, Hughes wrote his first novel Not Without Laughter. The success of the novel convinced Langston that he could make a living as a writer. In 1934 Langston published his first collection of short stories The Ways of White Folks. His most famous short story was Thank You Ma'm. In 1940 Hughes published his autobiography The Big Sea. During the 50's and 60's he published a second installment of his autobiography I Wonder as I Wander.
Around the same time Hughes published his autobiography, he began contributing a column to the Chicago Defender. Hughes created a comic character named Jesse B. Semple, better known as "Simple," a black Everyman for the column. Hughes used "simple" to further explore urban, working-class black themes, and to address racial issues. The columns were highly successful, and "Simple" would later be the focus of several of Hughes' books and plays.
