Langston Hughes: The Rise Of The Harlem Renaissance

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The Harlem Renaissance Era took place during the 1920’s and 1930’s bring with it an explosive new genre of jazz and blues, art ,poetry and many other creative outlets thus creating many great changes. This was an era for expressing the African-American culture in American; documenting everything from our countries dark past to the optimistic hope of a brighter future for African Americans. The primary and most important factors that contributed to the up rise of the Harlem Renaissance were World War I and the Great Migration. For it was the relocation to Harlem during The Great Migration of African-American people from the egregious oppression of South to the North, that was the cause of this phenomenon. Harlem became one of the largest African- American communities in The United States, and during the Harlem Renaissance and soon became a center for art and literature. Many great writers came about during this time, one of which was Langston Hughes. …show more content…

Yet he was often criticized by some for using his poetry as a source of “protest” almost as if he was punished for bring blunt and honest about the experience of being black. When in fact he was using his platform to not only to advocate his strong sense of racial pride but to celebrate African American culture, history and spirituality not matter how positive or negative it may have been. He advocated many of these beliefs in his pieces. For example “his conclusion to the poem, "I, too, am America" is a testament of faith in his country men and women to recognize and appreciate the contributions of African-American citizens” (Lewis,