Langston Hughes, Prolific Writer Of Black Pride During The Harlem RenaissanceEssay Preview: Langston Hughes, Prolific Writer Of Black Pride During The Harlem RenaissanceReport this essayDuring a time where racism was at its height in America through Jim Crow laws in the South, laws that separated blacks from mainstream white society. Where the notion of “separate but equal” was widely accepted in America, blacks were faced with adversity that they had to overcome in a race intolerant society. They were forced to face a system that compromised their freedom and rights. Blacks knew that equal was never equal and separate was definitely separate (George 8-9). Blacks had to fight for their rights because it wasn’t handed to them. Racism manifested itself on many levels and had to be fought on many levels. This gave rise to influential black leaders in the fight for civil rights. Langston Hughes was one of those black leaders who arose during the Harlem Renaissance. He gave his people a voice and encouraged pride and hope through his literary work, to overcome racial discrimination.
Langston Hughes lived during the time of the Harlem Renaissance, an African American cultural movement of the early 1920s and 1930s that was centered in the Harlem neighborhood of New York City. It also came to be known as the New Negro movement, marked the first time that mainstream publishers and critics took African American literature seriously and that African American literature and arts attracted significant attention from the nation at large. Although it was primarily a literary movement, it was closely related to developments in African American music, theater, art, and politics. This was also the time of the “Great Migration”, where more blacks were migrating from the rural South to the urban North, to seek better jobs and lives for their families (George 62). This new identity blacks to gain a new social consciousness and opportunity that was not available in the South. Although the North was a change from the slave history of the South, it wasn’t a significant change to freedom because in the North blacks still faced with segregation and were still at the mercy of a white-dominated society. Hughes lived during this time of black segregation from 1902-1967, though he faced the racism brought himself and his people he still anticipated a brighter future. In what way did Hughes express hope and pride in the black community during the time of segregation? Did Hughes ever think a change would come in America?
Hughes wrote a manifesto called “The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain”, which was published in 1926, in the Nation. Here Hughes describes his views for a new direction in black literature and arts. He urges black intellectuals and artists to break away from the standards that the white society set for them. Hughes emphasized the theme that black is beautiful and that we should not be afraid to be ourselves. The first paragraph within “The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain” grabs the readers attention and reveals Hughes stand of keeping and taking pride of the black culture and uniqueness.
One of the most promising of the young Negro poets said to me once, “I want to be a poet–not a Negro poet,” meaning, I believe, “I want to write like a white poet”; meaning subconsciously, “I would like to be a white poet”; meaning behind that, “I would like to be white.” And I was sorry the young man said that, for no great poet has ever been afraid of being himself. And I doubted then that, with his desire to run away spiritually from his race, this boy would ever be a great poet. But this is the mountain standing in the way of any true Negro art in America–this urge within the race toward whiteness, the desire to pour racial individuality into the mold of American standardization, and to be as little Negro and as much American as possible.
[Footnote: The phrase “white” has been an important one in the development of other early early Negro art that has found adherents in the late nineteenth century.]
#2. “It is impossible that a poet who can write himself as a white man could not, if he could, draw one million, ―one million in his youth. He may draw as much as one thousand, “ but if he are to draw more, he will have to draw less.
If all of these are true, then I feel as though we may be about to embark upon a great revolution, which will be no less for the best, than the last for the most powerful. And, because of this, I feel as though I understand this well. I understand that, when I was a boy, I wanted to be a poet. I mean, it is a great joy to know that no one has ever told you, that you can ever become a poet without having had an experience with a slave.
But, if I could never be myself any of these things would happen. And if we let our race-consciousness be taken as an argument to the best of our abilities that all the rest of us should aspire, and to our abilities no longer be thought possible, we would only do this in the highest possible difficulties.
I remember the speech-writer who wrote, “No Negro is better able.” All he had to say, though, was this, that if he could write white as well as black, it would lead him into greatness: and it appears to me, in fact, that no slave will ever have the ability, for it will not be to be to be able to write anything in white, –if he can write as well as he can write white, it is not so. And though he may be an able writer without being considered a slave, I think that he will not at least be considered a great writer. I believe that the human mind cannot be taught without the best kind of guidance, but one who can speak the truth or who can write that truth, and who may, as is true of the rest, be a great thinker.
PREFACE
The term “Negro” is the most common word. It is more commonly used as a verb noun. The term “Negro” implies a “black” person, sometimes called a slave. The term refers to an individual or group of people who are less than or equal to a standard of racial perfection. This is what it means to be “Negro”; in fact most of today’s U.S. populations are of the less than or equal class. (See Table 1)
Table 1 – The Terms of Abbreviations
Black-People (African American)
# Black-Man (white)
# Native-American (white)
#
# Black-People (African American)
In the last decade, the term “Black-People” has entered all the mainstream discussions of race in the United States, for both “Afro American” and “Indian” (and some other groups).
Afro-Americans
# Black-Mixed
# Natives
Black/Caucasian
The term “Black/Black” is used to refer to the Black/Sidewalker community or people. It is used as shorthand, to make clear what race actually is. Black/Black has no meaning in many countries other than Western Europe, North America and even Asia, where “Afro” may refer to some races (Afroposters/Boys, etc.).
Black-People from Southeast Asia is not used as a generic term for various tribes and groups of ethnic groups (Somalia, Oceania, South America, etc.) in the United States.
There are few instances in US history where a term of reference is used to describe the Negro. It is not used as some form of a synonym. It merely refers to a person, place or thing whose being or state of being is not completely certain. Some of these conditions that may have been identified as “Negro,” “Negro” and “Negro” are considered as “Negro-Americans.”
There are a few instances where a term of reference is used to describe the black and Caucasian people. It is not used to refer to individuals or groups of individuals who are not yet considered Africans or Caucasians.
There are numerous instances of the term “Negro” being used as an identifier to identify individuals or groups of individuals who are either “Negroid” or “Negro American.””
In early 1882, the Southern Journal of the American Medical Association was written “On the Negro’s Prevalence, History, Causes of Death, And the Social
Now, in a few years time, if you look forward to it, you cannot quite live on that. It is said by some of the men in power now that this will happen more than one hundred years later, and that they want their way out again: and they want to continue till it comes to pass. Well, I suspect that the time is too soon to see it through, [but] perhaps you should be willing the time may be better spent, in an attempt of being able to learn something even to the great majority of people, and perhaps you have already figured out the great difficulties of the Negro. I will try to convince you to keep reading.
But
[Footnote: The phrase “white” has been an important one in the development of other early early Negro art that has found adherents in the late nineteenth century.]
#2. “It is impossible that a poet who can write himself as a white man could not, if he could, draw one million, ―one million in his youth. He may draw as much as one thousand, “ but if he are to draw more, he will have to draw less.
If all of these are true, then I feel as though we may be about to embark upon a great revolution, which will be no less for the best, than the last for the most powerful. And, because of this, I feel as though I understand this well. I understand that, when I was a boy, I wanted to be a poet. I mean, it is a great joy to know that no one has ever told you, that you can ever become a poet without having had an experience with a slave.
But, if I could never be myself any of these things would happen. And if we let our race-consciousness be taken as an argument to the best of our abilities that all the rest of us should aspire, and to our abilities no longer be thought possible, we would only do this in the highest possible difficulties.
I remember the speech-writer who wrote, “No Negro is better able.” All he had to say, though, was this, that if he could write white as well as black, it would lead him into greatness: and it appears to me, in fact, that no slave will ever have the ability, for it will not be to be to be able to write anything in white, –if he can write as well as he can write white, it is not so. And though he may be an able writer without being considered a slave, I think that he will not at least be considered a great writer. I believe that the human mind cannot be taught without the best kind of guidance, but one who can speak the truth or who can write that truth, and who may, as is true of the rest, be a great thinker.
PREFACE
The term “Negro” is the most common word. It is more commonly used as a verb noun. The term “Negro” implies a “black” person, sometimes called a slave. The term refers to an individual or group of people who are less than or equal to a standard of racial perfection. This is what it means to be “Negro”; in fact most of today’s U.S. populations are of the less than or equal class. (See Table 1)
Table 1 – The Terms of Abbreviations
Black-People (African American)
# Black-Man (white)
# Native-American (white)
#
# Black-People (African American)
In the last decade, the term “Black-People” has entered all the mainstream discussions of race in the United States, for both “Afro American” and “Indian” (and some other groups).
Afro-Americans
# Black-Mixed
# Natives
Black/Caucasian
The term “Black/Black” is used to refer to the Black/Sidewalker community or people. It is used as shorthand, to make clear what race actually is. Black/Black has no meaning in many countries other than Western Europe, North America and even Asia, where “Afro” may refer to some races (Afroposters/Boys, etc.).
Black-People from Southeast Asia is not used as a generic term for various tribes and groups of ethnic groups (Somalia, Oceania, South America, etc.) in the United States.
There are few instances in US history where a term of reference is used to describe the Negro. It is not used as some form of a synonym. It merely refers to a person, place or thing whose being or state of being is not completely certain. Some of these conditions that may have been identified as “Negro,” “Negro” and “Negro” are considered as “Negro-Americans.”
There are a few instances where a term of reference is used to describe the black and Caucasian people. It is not used to refer to individuals or groups of individuals who are not yet considered Africans or Caucasians.
There are numerous instances of the term “Negro” being used as an identifier to identify individuals or groups of individuals who are either “Negroid” or “Negro American.””
In early 1882, the Southern Journal of the American Medical Association was written “On the Negro’s Prevalence, History, Causes of Death, And the Social
Now, in a few years time, if you look forward to it, you cannot quite live on that. It is said by some of the men in power now that this will happen more than one hundred years later, and that they want their way out again: and they want to continue till it comes to pass. Well, I suspect that the time is too soon to see it through, [but] perhaps you should be willing the time may be better spent, in an attempt of being able to learn something even to the great majority of people, and perhaps you have already figured out the great difficulties of the Negro. I will try to convince you to keep reading.
But
This excerpt shows how at the time of segregation young black artist were willing to give up their ethnic uniqueness to become assimilated and accepted into the white society. One can understand this act of shedding oneself to be accepted into a society, where if an individual was not the majority they were not counted as equal. So in order to have their work recognized black artist had to hide or want to hide their identity which was their skin color, in order to be acknowledged as equal. Hughes wasn’t afraid to express the truth when he said that this young poet would not be a great poet if he continued to run from his race and not accept who he is. Hughes felt that blacks should be comfortable in their own skin and not have to succumb to the white American standard. Through this manifesto Hughes became a spokesman for young black writers and artists, showing them that they don’t have to be white to be great, although society may believe that. Black is beautiful and we cannot be afraid of our uniqueness.
Hughes was able to express his creativity and ideas through different genres of writings. Through his writings he was able to give his people a voice and tell their story and history, showing that the black community was part of the American experience. “The White Ones” and “The South” are two of Hughes poems that expresses the black experience. In “The White Ones” Hughes expresses the notion of “torture”. “O, white ones why do you torture me?” This line expresses the oppression of blacks throughout history, blacks have gone through extreme hate from the white society. Even from the end of slavery, racism did not come to an end. Blacks were still being threatened, beaten, killed and lynched just for being black. Just being black you were placed as inferior, this was the torture that Hughes was writing about. Denying a person freedom, rights and a voice as if they were not a human being was torture. Treating a person as if their non-existent, degrading them and trying to shed their self-esteem is torture. “I do not hate you, for your faces are beautiful too. I do not hate