Let America Be America Again By Langston Hughes
Background
Langston Hughes wrote “Let America Be America Again” in 1935 and published it in 1936. The poem discusses many topics, but the common theme is inequality. He mentions several groups of people that have been mistreated and discriminated against including Native Americans, African Americans, and poor people. The poem serves as a plea for better and equal opportunities for everyone.
Historical Context
Displacement of Native Americans
In the poem, Hughes states, “I am the red man driven from the land” referring to the Native Americans who were forced to leave their homes and relocate. The Indian Removal Act was passed in May 1830, and it gave the president the power to relocate “eastern Indians to lands west of the Mississippi
…show more content…
Between 1916 and 1918, more than 400,000 African Americans moved from the south to the north (Doyle 25). More than one million African Americans in the south migrated away between 1910 and 1930 (Marks 148). The people who chose to migrate were motivated to do so by the worsening conditions in the south and the available opportunities in the north. Black migrants were “pushed out of the South because of the boll weevil, flooding, disenfranchisement and the rise of Jim Crow” (Marks 148). They were able to find industrial employment opportunities because the north was “newly deprived of immigrant labor from Europe by World War I” (Doyle 25). The Black press, including newspapers, was a contributing factor to the increase in migration because it allowed information to spread quickly (Marks 148). Travelling from the south to the north was expensive and would take several weeks' worth of pay. Some families would sell everything they could to raise money and send one family member north to work so the rest of the family could afford to travel (Marks …show more content…
Hallock. “When Unions ‘Mattered’: The Impact of Strikes on Financial Markets, 1925-1937.” ILR Review, vol. 55, no. 2, Jan. 2002, pp. 219-33. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/2696206.
Doyle, Rodger. “The Great Migration.” Scientific American, vol. 290, no. 2, Feb. 2004, p. 25. JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/26047584.
“Great Depression History.” History. A&E Television Networks, 24 May 2023. https://www.history.com/topics/great-depression/great-depression-history
Hughes, Langston. “Let America Be America Again.” The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes, Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 1994, Poets.org, https://poets.org/poem/let-america-be-america-again. Accessed 24 June 2023.
“The Homeland of Migrating Groups.” Europeana. The European Union. https://www.europeana.eu/en/exhibitions/leaving-europe/the-homeland-of-migrating-groups. Accessed 25 June 2023.
Klein, Christopher. “Last Hired, First Fired: How the Great Depression Affected African Americans.” History, 31 Aug. 2018, https://www.history.com/news/last-hired-first-fired-how-the-great-depression-affected-african-americans
Marks, Carole. “Black Workers and the Great Migration North.” Phylon (1960-), vol. 46, no. 2, 1985, pp. 148-61. JSTOR,
Analysis Of The Geary Act By The Chinese, The Great Migration
1895 Words | 8 PagesAlso, because of the restriction of European migration during World War One, this gave African Americans hope to find jobs and start a better life in the North (Lecture, 9/19). For the African Americans in the South, moving up north was the only way to get away from the harsh, cruel, indecent mistreatment they would get from the whites of the South. According to Wilkerson, “ Between 1880 and 1950, an African American was lynched more than once a week for some perceived breach of racial hierarchy” (Wilkerson, p 2). African Americans were the targets of hate crimes from racist white southerners such as the Ku Klux Klan. If African Americans decided to stay in the south, they had higher chances to become victims of racist crimes and end up losing their lives.
Let Usa Be America Again Literary Devices
671 Words | 3 PagesMakayla Long Professor Van Epps ENGL 1102 13 February 2023 How Poetry affected America during the Harlem Renaissance Langston Hughes wrote the poem “Let America Be America Again” (1935) during the Harlem Renaissance period. Hughes used this poem to reveal his feelings towards the inequality in America. He used literary devices such as metaphors and repetition to show more about his theme of freedom and equality. Using these metaphors and repetition, Hughes gets his theme and feelings across in a very descriptive way.
How Did The Great Depression Affect The Economy Of The 1920s
1313 Words | 6 PagesTime-Life, 2019. Samuelson, Robert J. “Revisiting the Great Depression.” The Wilson Quarterly (1976-), vol. 36, no. 1, 2012, pp. 36–43. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/41484425.
How Did The New Industrial Society Affect Views About Gender And Race
922 Words | 4 PagesAfrican American and people of color often had fewer work possibilities, experienced severe discrimination, and additionally stumbled across the high living cost here. the demographic shift at the turn of the century by Congress in 1907 simply reported “These newer immigrants looked and acted differently.” Those differences became fundamental elements in unfairly treating African American; more often than not, they became a target for discrimination and was blamed for most of the problem that happened within the city. Instead of mingling with each other, the African American and the whites separated apart, which usually caused the African American to gather in some of the worst slum areas. This migrant did not resolve the core problem of racism in society, but it was just an effort to escape the fight they ought to encounter, not the violent war but the awareness war.
How Did 1931 Lead Up To The Great Depression
240 Words | 1 Pages1931 was perhaps the hardest years of depression. The unique convergence gence of personalities and institutions responsible for a luminous decade of African American creative expression centered in New York was quickly unraveling. "The Depression, Arna Bontemps, recalled, "brought instant havoc to the Harlem Renaissance of the twenties .The Depression had devastated the South Side and made a distant, painful memory of the employment boom that had fueled the Great Migration. " Last hired, first fired," black workers suffered the ravages of joblessness sooner and longer than whites.
Impact Of The Scottsboro Case
725 Words | 3 Pages“On March 25, 1931, nine black youths aged 13 to 21, hopped on a freight train in Alabama in a quest for work.” (“The Scottsboro Boys Case”). Riding on the freight train in search of work during the Great Depression was not unusual, many were forced off farms. The word of a chance of work had spread. The rail ways was the only transport to the work hundreds of miles away, so the only way to travel was hopping on the train, illegally.
The New Deal Dbq
1002 Words | 5 Pages1There were many laws and acts set in place specifically for union workers such as The National Industrial Recovery Act of 1933 which provided collective bargaining. Another act that helped the union workers during this time is the Wagner Act also known as the National Labor Relations Act in which it was mandatory for businesses to bargain with union employees. This 1935 law was to protest workers’ rights after the National Industrial Recovery Act was declared unconstitutional. The New Deal was beneficial for industrial workers because these employees gain experience in the workplace, however, they did not get a fair
Great Migration Research Paper
366 Words | 2 PagesIn the following paragraphs I will address the migration of African Americans, and will formally refer to this specific group as Black Americans. One of the most interesting movements in history was the “Great Migration”. During this time period many black Americans found an alternative for a better life. Many travelled to different parts of the country, mainly relocating to the urban cities such as; New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, and Detroit. Adjusting to this new life style would be a complication that many Black Americans would face.
What Was The Tulsa Massacre Dbq
481 Words | 2 PagesThe Tulsa Massacre of 1921 was a tragic event in American history in which a white mob attacked and destroyed the thriving Greenwood District, also known as “Black Wall Street”, in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The event resulted in the deaths of hundreds of African American residents and the displacement of thousands more. This massacre was a direct result of tensions breaking after the Great Migration, a movement of approximately six million African Americans from the southern to Midwest and Northeastern states. Effects of the Great Migration led to an enormous cultural and social change in the midwest and northeastern states, as the African American population increased by over 40% the culture in states like Oklahoma changed drastically. However, this increase in the population caused competition in the job market to increase, and as tensions rose, anger from the racist white community was directed toward people of color.
Let America Be America Again By Dr. Martin Luther King
1040 Words | 5 PagesHe notes, "America never was America to me / And yet I swear this oath— / America will be!" The promise that America would be a nation of freedom and opportunity has proven to be a hollow one for many descendants of African Americans who were held in slavery. Our society has been deeply impacted by the legacies of slavery and institutionalized racism, and seeking reparations is an essential first step in ending these persistent injustices. As Hughes expresses, "O, let America be America again— / The land that never has been yet— /
Dust Bowl
788 Words | 4 PagesSome voluntarily deeded their farms to creditors, others faced foreclosure by banks, and still others had to leave temporarily to search for work to provide for their families” (“The Great Depression”). Many farmers were left with no money or means of income and were forced to move to find jobs or new land. When they were looking for jobs, African Americans were usually denied jobs. The ones that had jobs were fired as their jobs were to be given to Whites. The agricultural depression forced many to move and African Americans both moving and already living there, weren 't given jobs and were
The Great Migration Essay
942 Words | 4 PagesThis was the case for many skilled black artisans who would still get low pay simply because of their skin color. (Marks 155) As if this wasn’t enough of a struggle for these African American migrants, Northern whites intensified their efforts to restrict the residential and occupational opportunities available to African Americans after 1920 as more southern migrants arrived in the North. (Tolnay 221) Despite all these new opportunities offered in the North and West, migrated African Americans were still facing segregation and economic struggles and as the black population grew,
How Did The New Deal Affect Society
425 Words | 2 PagesJobs dropped like flies. In the article, “Amistad Digital Resource,” it states, “While white unemployment had hit an extraordinarily high rate of 31.7 percent in 1931, it was well over 50 percent for Black Americans” (The Great Depression 2). Many families lost everything they had, and suffered extremely. People’s lives were turned upside-down. Citizens that lost their job could not afford food or the basic needs to survive.
Positive And Negative Effects Of The Great Migration
1057 Words | 5 PagesAlthough the life in the North was better, it was not ideal. During the emigration often African Americans encountered several kinds of discrimination, both the owners and sellers of houses prevented African-Americans to buy a house close to neighborhoods inhabited by whites. Moreover, when blacks moved
Essay On The Great Depression Dbq
1068 Words | 5 PagesThe Crisis’ paper shows that the New Deal created much needed employment opportunities for African Americans worldwide. The New Deal tried to improve the lives of black southerners through the creation of the resettlement administration which faced many problems, but ultimately served many black families. The University of Oxford reinforces this by stating, “Cumulatively, the New Deal assisted black southerners by allocating money to African American schools, funding public health programs, and improving black housing. ”(Murphy). This research encyclopedia shows how President Roosevelt’s new plan served black communities and helped support African American communities.
More about Let America Be America Again By Langston Hughes
Analysis Of The Geary Act By The Chinese, The Great Migration
1895 Words | 8 PagesLet Usa Be America Again Literary Devices
671 Words | 3 PagesHow Did The Great Depression Affect The Economy Of The 1920s
1313 Words | 6 PagesHow Did The New Industrial Society Affect Views About Gender And Race
922 Words | 4 PagesHow Did 1931 Lead Up To The Great Depression
240 Words | 1 PagesImpact Of The Scottsboro Case
725 Words | 3 PagesThe New Deal Dbq
1002 Words | 5 PagesGreat Migration Research Paper
366 Words | 2 PagesWhat Was The Tulsa Massacre Dbq
481 Words | 2 PagesLet America Be America Again By Dr. Martin Luther King
1040 Words | 5 PagesDust Bowl
788 Words | 4 PagesThe Great Migration Essay
942 Words | 4 PagesHow Did The New Deal Affect Society
425 Words | 2 PagesPositive And Negative Effects Of The Great Migration
1057 Words | 5 PagesEssay On The Great Depression Dbq
1068 Words | 5 Pages