Hughes, Hatcher, 1881-1945

Harvey Hatcher Hughes (1881-1945) was a college professor and dramatist from Polkville, N.C.; he wrote for the theatre and taught English and drama at Columbia University beginning in 1909; won the Pulitzer Prize for drama in 1924 for his folk play, Hell-Bent Fer Heaven, which drew upon his early life as the youngest of 11 children in a family of sharecroppers graduate of University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill (A.B. 1907; M.A. 1909); served with the American Expeditionary Forces in France during World War I.

Hatcher Hughes (1881-1945) was a dramatist from North Carolina who wrote folk and other plays and taught English and drama at Columbia University beginning in 1909. He served with the American Expeditionary Forces in France during World War I and won the Pulitzer Prize for drama in 1924.

Hatcher Hughes was born Harvey Hatcher Hughes on 12 February 1881 in Polkville, N.C., to Andrew Jackson and Martha J. Gold Hughes. His parents were sharecroppers and Hatcher was the youngest of 11 children. He received an A.B. degree in 1907 and an M.A. degree in 1909, both from the University of North Carolina. Beginning in 1909, Hughes taught English and drama at Columbia University in New York City, where he was instrumental in creating and leading the Drama Department. The Department was disbanded in the 1950s.

In 1917-1919, Hughes served as captain in the American Expeditionary Forces during World War I. He was stationed at Fort Lee, Va., and in France.

Hughes's first play was A Marriage Made in Heaven (1918). With Elmer Rice, he wrote Wake Up, Jonathan in 1921. In 1924, he wrote Hell-Bent for Heaven, a folk play for which he won a Pulitzer Prize.

Hughes married Janet Cool Ranney, an actress, in 1930. Their daughter, Ann Ranney Moss, was born in 1935. Hughes died on 18 October 1945.