Langston Hughes (1902-1967)
About the Poet
Langston Hughes is considered one of the most essential members of the Harlem Renaissance movement. Born in
Hughes was highly influenced by Jazz and wrote not only poetry but novels, short stories, and plays. He was the master of providing insight into the daily life experiences of the African American community. Hughes' was not afraid to write what was on his mind, and was never one to shy away from politics. Long accused by the political right of being a communist, somthing he always denied, Hughes was called to testify in front of Wisconsin Senator Josephs McCarthy’s House of Un-American Activities Committee in 1953.
Let America Be America Again
Let
Let it be the dream it used to be.
Let it be the pioneer on the plain
Seeking a home where he himself is free.
(
Let
Let it be that great strong land of love
Where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme
That any man be crushed by one above.
(It never was
O, let my land be a land where
Is crowned with no false patriotic wreath,
But opportunity is real, and life is free,
Equality is in the air we breathe.
(There's never been equality for me,
Nor freedom in this "homeland of the free.")
Say, who are you that mumbles in the dark?
And who are you that draws your veil across the stars?
I am the poor white, fooled and pushed apart,
I am the Negro bearing slavery's scars.
I am the red man driven from the land,
I am the immigrant clutching the hope I seek--
And finding only the same old stupid plan
Of dog eat dog, of mighty crush the weak.
I am the young man, full of strength and hope,
Tangled in that ancient endless chain
Of profit, power, gain, of grab the land!
Of grab the gold! Of grab the ways of satisfying need!
Of work the men! Of take the pay!
Of owning everything for one's own greed!
I am the farmer, bondsman to the soil.
I am the worker sold to the machine.
I am the Negro, servant to you all.
I am the people, humble, hungry, mean--
Hungry yet today despite the dream.
Beaten yet today--O, Pioneers!
I am the man who never got ahead,
The poorest worker bartered through the years.
Yet I'm the one who dreamt our basic dream
In the
Who dreamt a dream so strong, so brave, so true,
That even yet its mighty daring sings
In every brick and stone, in every furrow turned
That's made
O, I'm the man who sailed those early seas
In search of what I meant to be my home--
For I'm the one who left dark
And
And torn from Black Africa's strand I came
To build a "homeland of the free."
The free?
Who said the free? Not me?
Surely not me? The millions on relief today?
The millions shot down when we strike?
The millions who have nothing for our pay?
For all the dreams we've dreamed
And all the songs we've sung
And all the hopes we've held
And all the flags we've hung,
The millions who have nothing for our pay--
Except the dream that's almost dead today.
O, let
The land that never has been yet--
And yet must be--the land where every man is free.
The land that's mine--the poor man's, Indian's, Negro's,
Who made
Whose sweat and blood, whose faith and pain,
Whose hand at the foundry, whose plow in the rain,
Must bring back our mighty dream again.
Sure, call me any ugly name you choose--
The steel of freedom does not stain.
From those who live like leeches on the people's lives,
We must take back our land again,
O, yes,
I say it plain,
And yet I swear this oath--
Out of the rack and ruin of our gangster death,
The rape and rot of graft, and stealth, and lies,
We, the people, must redeem
The land, the mines, the plants, the rivers.
The mountains and the endless plain--
All, all the stretch of these great green states--
And make
- Langston Hughes
Let America Be America Again is clearly a poem of social protest. Hughes’ specialty throughout his work was to show the view point as he saw it of the African American Community. Written in 1938, Hughes is reflecting the yearning for equality and disillusion in the American dream that was rightly prevalent in the African American Community.
What’s particularly interesting is how Hughes takes up not only the African American perspective but also that of the “poor white”, “red man”, “immigrant”, “farmer”, and “worker”. One of the most prevalent features of
Theme for English B
The instructor said,
Go home and write
a page tonight.
And let that page come out of you---
Then, it will be true.
I wonder if it's that simple?
I am twenty-two, colored, born in Winston-Salem.
I went to school there, then Durham, then here
to this college on the hill above Harlem.
I am the only colored student in my class.
The steps from the hill lead down into Harlem
through a park, then I cross St. Nicholas,
Eighth Avenue, Seventh, and I come to the Y,
the Harlem Branch Y, where I take the elevator
up to my room, sit down, and write this page:
It's not easy to know what is true for you or me
at twenty-two, my age. But I guess I'm what
I feel and see and hear, Harlem, I hear you:
hear you, hear me---we two---you, me, talk on this page.
(I hear New York too.) Me---who?
Well, I like to eat, sleep, drink, and be in love.
I like to work, read, learn, and understand life.
I like a pipe for a Christmas present,
or records---Bessie, bop, or Bach.
I guess being colored doesn't make me NOT like
the same things other folks like who are other races.
So will my page be colored that I write?
Being me, it will not be white.
But it will be
a part of you, instructor.
You are white---
yet a part of me, as I am a part of you.
That's American.
Sometimes perhaps you don't want to be a part of me.
Nor do I often want to be a part of you.
But we are, that's true!
As I learn from you,
I guess you learn from me---
although you're older---and white---
and somewhat more free.
This is my page for English B.
- Langston Hughes
In most of his poems Hughes would cronicle the daily experiences of African Americans based not necessarily on his personal experiences but on the commuity as a whole. It is confusing as to who Hughes is placing as the narrator of Theme for English B. Its not likely that Hughes is writing about himself as he was not born in Durham, North Carolina but in Joplin, Missouri. However Hughes did attend Columbia University but left after only a year because of the institutional racism. Surely Hughes is referring to the famous New York City university when he writes "then here to this college on the hill above Harlem".
Regardless of who exactly is serving as the narrator of the poem Hughes is reflecting the frustration by many in the African American community of the era. A frustration of not truly being able to express ones self and when doing so in traditional circles such as a university being criticized for it.
Interesting Links
Hughes reading his poem The Negro Speaks of Rivers, http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15722
Various readings of Hughes work by actor Ossie Davis http://town.hall.org/Archives/radio/IMS/HarperAudio/052694_harp_ITH.html