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Black History Month Poetry Project: Langston Hughes

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Alicia Lewis Miss Emily Brown Period: 1 3/2/22 Black History Month Poetry Project Langston Hughes is an African American poet who wrote from 1921, until he passed away in 1967. Hughes' poetry mainly focused on the black experience in America. In his time, his work was not nearly as appreciated as it is now. Many black artists criticized Hughes for portraying what was thought to be an unattractive portrayal of the black life. Throughout all of Hughes' criticism, however, he continued to record the hardships and unfairness of black life and it’s frustration. Langston Hughes was the first black American to earn his living solely from his writing and public lectures. It was also widely believed that Langston Hughes was homosexual, which may not …show more content…

The poem, “I too” speaks about the racial segregation African Americans faced in the early-middle 1900s, and sometimes still to this day. The poem very obviously references the idea that African Americans are less than, or not even actual Americans. “I too” portrays the life of an African American during the time of racial segregation, coming from someone who experienced it. An African American. In the poem, the speaker says “I am the darker brother/They send me to eat in the kitchen/When company comes” (Hughes 1-3). This is an allusion to the racial segregation that black Americans face. The poem “Let America be America Again” highlights the contrast between the “American Dream” and the reality of living in America for many individuals. The speaker then begins to argue that this idea of America has never existed for many people, especially African Americans, by saying “America was never America to me” (Hughes 5). The poem goes on to list many counterexamples of the American dream other than African Americans; the working poor class, immigrants, and the Native Americans being forcefully removed from their

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An Annotated Bibliography: Langstone Hughes Dawahare, Anthony. “Langston Hughes’s Radical Poetry and the "End of Race." ” Melus, vol. 23, no. 3, 1998, p. 21., doi:10.2307/467676.

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Aside from his highly praised works such as “I, Too” and “The Weary Blues,” Hughes faced heavy criticism for his more in-depth poems. Surprisingly, the judgement came from fellow black writers. Hughes was already under the watchful eye of a few of these famed writers at the early age of twenty-four (“Langston Hughes”). What set him apart from other writers at his age, was that Hughes was in love with the good and bad sides of being black in America. Most black writers wanted to take the beauty of being black and magnify it.

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