How Did Langston Hughes Write About African American Struggles

African American Struggles in Langston Hughes’ Poems

Langstone Hughes is one of the many African American poets who was influenced by racism and conflict. He was also influenced by personal experiences and those of his family as he grew up. His father disowned the family and went to Mexico to avoid the racist interactions and conflicts that frequently came up (Britannica 1-3). It is these conflicts and struggles that were found to influence and inform many of the poems and materials that he did. As a result, man of his poems and materials have struggles and death as major themes, and in these cases, they are structured around the lives of African Americans in their country. These themes also come out in poems such as Let America be America

“Ain’t got nobody in all this world/ Ain’t got nobody but ma self/ I’s gwine to quit ma frownin’/And put ma troubles on the shelf/ While the Weary Blues echoed through his head/ He slept like a rock or a man that’s dead” (Hughes, The Weary Blues 19 – 22, 34-35). According to Hughes, the struggles of an African American person are his to carry alone, that is how they have been perceived. There is a notable absence of community interaction and support in the poems, which highly conflicts with the image witnessed and understood in the actual African America community. This is even more evident in Let America be America Again, where he appears to not draw a line between people of different races, and as such, he seeks to show that many people, of different races are suffering and have suffered from the situation in America. He suggests that there are many people from different races who suffer and toil and are not regarded as humans, or people of naught in the community. Instead, there is difference only between the mighty and the weak. “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” (Hughes, Let America be America

In Birmingham Sunday (September 15, 1963) Hughes expresses his thoughts and emotions on “four little girls/ Who went to Sunday School that day/ And never came back home at all” (Hughes, Birmingham Sunday (September 15, 1963) 1-3). The imagery that is shown throughout the poem sets the tone of compassion and justice. Hughes involvement with what was going on in his community allowed him to be a literary activist for events: Martin Luther King Jr.’s March on Washington, Jazz, and education. I, Too is written in hopes of a better life for African Americans “Tomorrow, / I’ll be at the table/ When Company Comes.” “Nobody’ll dare/ Say to me, “Eat in the kitchen.”.” Hughes use of “Tomorrow” indicates what is yet to come for those who have had to struggle and have been discriminated against because of the color of their