POET AND SINGER: In 1949, poet Langston Hughes, right, spoke at Allen High School in Asheville. One of the students in attendance was Eunice Waymon, later known professionally as Nina Simone. In time, the poet and the singer developed a unique friendship, which author and N.C. State University professor W. Jason Miller is currently documenting in an online archive, Backlash Blues: Nina Simone and Langston Hughes. Photo of Simone courtesy of Dr. Crys Armbrust, Nina Simone Project Archive; photo of Hughes courtesy of the Library of Congress