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Caroline Mercer (Langston) Hughes Clark

Born: Lake View, Kansas, on February 22, 1873. Married: James Nathaniel Hughes, in Logan County, Oklahoma, on April 30, 1899. Married: Homer Clark. They had one son. Died: Manhattan, New York, on June 3, 1938.

Caroline Mercer Langston was born to Charles Henry Langston and Mary (Patterson) Leary Langston in Lake View, Kansas, on January 18, 1873. Her father was an abolitionist and educator. Her mother was among the first African American women to attend Oberlin College in Ohio. Her uncle, John Mercer Langston, was a minister to Haiti and dean of the Howard University School of Law.

Caroline Mercer Langston was born to Charles Henry Langston and Mary (Patterson) Leary Langston in Lake View, Kansas, on January 18, 1873. Her father was an abolitionist and educator. Her mother was among the first African American women to attend Oberlin College in Ohio. Her uncle, John Mercer Langston, was a minister to Haiti and dean of the Howard University School of Law. Carrie grew up in Lawrence along with Mamie Dillard and graduated from Lawrence High School. Carrie expanded her interests in journalistic, literary, political, religious, and artistic endeavors. She excelled in those talents as a noteworthy African American woman in northeast Kansas. She was an active member of Lawrence’s African American Methodist Episcopal Church. A respected member of the Lawrence’s Black social community, she gave poetry, literary, and dramatic readings at numerous gatherings. She presented lectures for the Young Men’s Social Club in 1889 and was a member and presenter of the Progressive Society in 1890. Carrie and her father formed the Inter-State Literary Society in 1890, which continued into the 1920s. She was named among the most beautiful African American women by the Topeka-based American Magazine in 1892. As a writer for the Atchison Blade in 1892, she advocated for women’s rights and civil rights, refuting “the male notion” that confines women to traditional roles in the home. Carrie attended the University of Kansas in 1894.

In pursuit of employment and fulfillment, Carrie relocated frequently. She began working as a deputy clerk in Douglas County courts in 1895. At Guthrie College in Oklahoma, where she was teaching courses, she met James Nathaniel Hughes. They married in Logan County, Oklahoma, on April 30, 1899. They first made their hope in Joplin, Missouri, one child is believed to have died in infancy. Another son, James Mercer Langston Hughes, was born in Joplin, Missouri, in 1901. The celebrated poet became known for his body of work as part of the contributions to the Harlem Renaissance. Father James Hughes, discontent with racism and lack of opportunity, relocated first to Cuba, then to Mexico City, Mexico, where he settled, eventually practicing law, owning land, and starting another family. Carrie and Langston relocated to Topeka, where she worked as a stenographer and as a contributor and sales representative for Nick Chiles’ newspaper, Topeka Plaindealer, which took her across the Midwest paying visits to subscribers. At the city’s public library on the grounds of the Kansas State Capitol in Topeka, she encouraged her son’s growing interest in reading. When Booker T. Washington spoke in the auditorium on January 16, 1905, she and Langston were present. She convinced the school board to accept young Langston’s admittance at Harrison Street School after he was initially denied access because of his race in 1908. Classroom bullies soon made attendance untenable, and she moved him to her mother’s care in Lawrence where he attended the segregated Pinckney School in Lawrence where Mamie Dillard was his teacher. Carrie found work in Lincoln, Illinois. She briefly moved to Mexico with Langston in 1910; they soon returned.

Homer Scott Clark operated a livery service and worked as a cook in Topeka. Carrie married him in 1915. Langston stayed in Lawrence to finish his school year while the Clarks moved to Illinois. They settled in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1916, where Langston attended the public schools. Langston lived with his father in 1919 but returned to graduate from high school in Cleveland while the Clarks moved again seeking employment. While Carrie was living in New York she performed in a Broadway production, Run Little Chillun, in 1933. She died of cancer in New York, on June 3, 1838.

Entry: Caroline Mercer (Langston) Hughes Clark

Author: Kansas Historical Society

Author information: The Kansas Historical Society is a state agency charged with actively safeguarding and sharing the state's history.

Date Created: November 2024

Date Modified: December 2024

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