1079773 Langston Hughes, 1936 (b/w photo) by Vechten, Carl Van (1880-1964); Private Collection; (add.info.: James Mercer Langston Hughes (1902 ??67) was an American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist. He was one of the earliest innovators of the then-new 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".); Prismatic Pictures ; American, out of copyright.