Ervin Dyer writes for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that, "In Cleveland, my goal was to walk where [Langston Hughes] walked and uncover Hughes' connection to this grand American city."

In this lengthy feature, she does just that.

"Born 110 years ago, the poet laureate of black Americans is indelibly linked with Harlem," she writes. But Hughes' literary sense was shaped in Pittsburgh's mirror city on Lake Erie.

Langston Hughes, called the poet laureate of black Americans, lived in Cleveland from 1916 to 1920. The first day of February marked the 110th anniversary of his birth. Hughes lived at 2266 E. 86th Street, boarded in the attic, alone, as his mother and stepfather had returned to Chicago for work. 

Hughes attended Cleveland’s Central High School, one of the first public high schools to enroll black students before the Civil War. It was there where he began to hone his craft as the editor of the school’s annual and the class poet.

In a 1957 letter, written while living in Harlem, Hughes said that his "most valuable guidance" in writing came in high school.

Read the full Pittsburgh Post-Gazette story here.