Langston Hughes Essay

Langston Hughes, once described as “one of the most notable poets among the writers of the Harlem Renaissance,” depicts the challenges experienced by African Americans long after the abolition of slavery (“Langston Hughes” [The Bedford Anthology] 744). Attempting to explain his work, Langston Hughes once said, “My writing has been largely concerned with the depicting of Negro life in America” (746). The life of an African American compared to their white neighbor reveals the deeply institutionalized racism that defined American life, which Hughes’s poetry addresses. He captures the oppressed, unvalued African American heritage and culture with his use of African American vernacular, sorrow songs, and vivid imagery. In his poem, “Negro,” Hughes

Hughes uses the color in the first and last stanzas by repeating, “Black as the night is black, / Black like the depths of my Africa” (2-3, 18-19). Jones believes the inclusion of ‘black’ and ‘my’ together “suggests a reclamation or possession...as a source of heritage–a heritage or connection which would have been partly sundered by the capture and enslavement of people of African descent and their forced bondage within the context of the transatlantic slave trade” (84). Jones introduces two ideas: the color associated with proud African Americans and the dark, unwelcoming nature of the typical African American life. Black can be analyzed as a reference to African American coloration. This is a visual discrepancy that separates African Americans from the white population, but one characteristic that cannot be eradicated. Once African, always an African. Black skin coloration will continue being a part of African Americans no matter the time period or location. The color creates binary opposition that represents the segregation and inequality of black culture from white culture. Similarly, the color black is also a depiction of the dark, lurid history of forced enslavement and African American suffering (Abdussalam 4). As previously reviewed, white populations severely mistreated and dehumanized the entire black population. Their historical journey is loaded with centuries of

He aimed to depict the African American reality with everything it entailed. Through historical allusions, first-person narrative, and the repetition of black, Hughes effectively recreates the image of generational discrimination and oppression. By effectively recreating this idea of historical mistreatment of African Americans, Hughes is able to paint an image of a race that is eternally disconnected and undervalued. Through all the challenges African Americans were faced with, Hughes creates a piece that simultaneously details their lives, while also celebrating the African American population’s resilient growth, stamina, and