The Harlem Renaissance brought many great changes. It was time for the African American people to express their culture. Many famous people began their writing and gained recognition during that time. The Harlem Renaissance took place during the 1920's and 1930's. During that time many African Americans started showing their different talents. Music, poetry, jazz, blues and musical theater were flourishing for the African American in Harlem. The African American way of life was changing. The great migration of African Americans from the South to the North, and into Harlem was one of the causes of The Harlem Renaissance. Harlem became one of the largest African American communities in the United States and also a center for the arts and literature. Many great writers came during that period; one of them was Langston Hughes. Langston Hughes was a great writer, and with his works he influenced and inspired the people of Harlem. Langston Hughes was born in February 1, 1902 in Joplin Missouri, with the name of James Langston Hughes. (Haskins 14) He grew up without a stable family environment. His father moved to Mexico, and he never really spent time with his son. After Hughes graduation from high school in Cleveland, he spent some time in Mexico with his father. He returned to the United States in the fall of the same year. (Haskins 17) After his parents had divorced, Carrie his mother had to place him under the caring arm of his grandmother, Mary Sampson Patterson Leary. (Haskins 18) Hughes' grandmother "helped inspire in him a devotion to the cause of social justice." (Rummel 55) He grew up in a time where people practiced segregation and prejudice. Therefore, he reflected these issues in his writings. He then moved to Harlem the center for most of the racial and ethnic problems. (Gayle 2) He started to look for a job, however; employers were looking for white people only. He then found a job as a laborer on a vegetable farm out-side New York City.