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Let America Be America Again, By Langston Hughes

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The poem Langston Hughes wrote in 1936 called “Let America be America again”. Langston Hughes an afro American in the United States of America. Langston Hughes' philosophical idea was equality in the United States of America. The first way Langston Hughes shows his philosophical idea of equality is by showing he wants everyone to be treated fairly and have the government not allow people to be racist to the Afro-Americans, Indians, and other immigrants located in the United States of America. The second way Langston Hughes shows his philosophical idea of equality is by showing his desire and dedication towards of achieving equality and shows off his dedication of hard work to achieve his dream but can’t due to of the barriers he has to overcome …show more content…

Langston Hughes was being unique because he was calling out the government and wanting change. Langston states “O, let America be America again- / The land that never has been yet-”(Hughes). Meaning that Langston Hughes isn’t following everyone and sticking up for the people who aren’t being treated fairly in the United States of America including even himself. Also, Olga Barrios makes this statement “Hughes’s faithfulness to his idea of an African American artist being true to himself”(Olga Barrios). This quote shows that Langston Hughes has reality checks on himself and other African Americans and other immigrants in the United States of America. This causes Langston Hughes to realize how they are being treated and who is treating them that way. Which Langston Hughes brings out to the public on how they are being treated and calls out the government and wants a change to happen so they will stop treating them like that. So everyone in the United States of America would be treated fairly including all the people the Americans treated wrong, involving Africans, Indians, and other immigrants located in the United States of America. Langston Hughes is unique because he steadily asks rhetorical questions like “The free?” and “Who said the free? Not Me?”(Hughes). With this Langston shows us that from his personal experience, he jokes about the United States of America as a land of freedom and then questions the people who said the United States of America is the land of the free. Because Langston Hughes has experienced the life of African Americans, Indians, and other immigrants have felt in the United States of America. And with this Langston is making fun of the government for having this title but not living up to what they are called by being free, all being equal, and all having the same opportunities in the United States of

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“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.” In the poem “Let America Be America Again” by Langston Hughes, the reader here’s from two different speakers, and how they both seperately want America to change. One of the speakers wants America to go back to what it was before, while the other responds in small comments, building up to say the quote you read at the beginning. In the poem “Let America Be America Again” the author has two separate speakers with contradicting thoughts, the author relates to problems that were happening in the real world, and how the author’s rhyme scheme is a vital component to how this poem reads.

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Makayla 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.

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There are so many writers and people who do not write also that look up to him. He accepted the challenge of expressing the heart and soul of African Americans. Keenly aware of racism, Hughes visioned a nation where domestic problems could be realized. Hughes in his poetry, expressed his own reactions to incidents in his life and in the world at large. Langston Hughes left such a lasting impression on poetry , black culture, and the people in his life, that he changed the way they lived with the spirit and soul he put into his

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Poetry Essay In this poem “ Let America Be America Again ” Langston Hughes write about what he feel about the America to him. He was born in February 1, 1902 in Joplin, Missouri. He says America not like the past anymore

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In “Let America Be America Again” by Langston Hughes is a very vivid interpretation of what America was like for those who did not get the opportunity to live the “American Dream”. But really, what was the American Dream? How can the dream of the common slave be any similar to that of a common slave owner? Langston addresses this is many forms in many instances.

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Langston Hughes did us a great service, he showed us a perspective that wasn 't being put in the spotlight. Mr. Hughes showed us how the american dream wasn 't the “dream” for everyone, he portrayed how african americans were not receiving the same as everyone else in america and how when everyone was happy they simply weren 't. He did an amazing job portraying a side we never saw and opened the american populous to a new view on the way society was being looked at. The poetry in Lenox Avenue Mural reflects the time period by showing the negative aspects of the american dream for african americans. It 's no secret that whenever a culture or group of people have moved to America that usually they come for and have to start from the bottom

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Langston Hughes’ poem Let America be America Again is a profound article of work from mid-1930’s America. Hughes begins by declaring a wish for America to go back and become what it once was, a land where people from across the world would migrate to, searching for a home that they could be free in. Hughes longs for the return of a country where dreams could flourish, instead of remaining unfulfilled. Yet, he states throughout the poem that America was never America to him. This showcases how dreams never stood a chance for African-Americans like Hughes, where, in this time, there was still segregation and little hope for citizens like him.

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Langston Hughes wrote Let America be America Again explaining that he was never an equal or free in America. He also didn’t just focus on blacks, he also wrote “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.” (Hughes 8). Hughes explained that nobody in America is treated right unless a wealthy white man.

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The poem explains that the freedom and equality America is supposed to stand for only relates to rich white people. Langston Hughes was an African American writer. He wrote fiction, short stories, and poetry. He was also a key member in Harlem Renaissance and the African American literary movement during the 1920s and 1930s. He often times wrote about the racial injustices he and many other faced daily.

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Many Americans long ago grew up on the belief that African Americans were inferior and incapable of completing a level of greatness that only white people could achieve. Of course, as time progressed, this belief became belittled as capable black Americans have made history and achieved astonishing new levels. Langston Hughes said "They'll see how beautiful I am, And be ashamed, I, too, am America," as a way of saying one day everyone will see his excellence and be embarrassed they ever doubted him (Hughes, 16/17/18). He is just as equally an American as those of a lighter skin color and it does not take any of his greatness away from him. The last line signifies his certainty that he is a part of this country by expressing it as a

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The theme of the poem, “Let America Be America Again” by Langston Hughes is about equality. There are multiple reasons and quotes hinting to why it's about Equality. For example, Hughes states in his poem, “There has never been equality for me, nor freedom in this “homeland of the free”” (15-16). From this quote we can see that he thinks everything isn’t equal. He put quotes around the homeland of the free to make it seem sarcastic.

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The culture of most blacks was unwanted during this time. For this reason Hughes desired to make a change and illustrate such cultural identities in his poems. In doing this he caused a shift in ideas among all people. Although the change didn’t happen immediately it did eventually occur. With that said the African American people were given less of an opportunity at jobs, schooling, and most importantly culture.

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The fact that they had no other choice but to abandon them shows how twisted society was then and how the laws heavily affected protesters. In the poem, “Let America Be America Again,” Langston Hughes wrote, “America never was America to me,” (Hughes 1936). He uses the word “me” to speak for all of the black people in America. Instead of the promised “land of the free,” and “liberty,” African-Americans are discriminated against and

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He reveals his perspective on democracy thorugh idioms. According to lines 5-10 of the poem, it states " I have as much right/ As the other fellow has/ To stand/ On my two feet/ And own the land." Through this idiom, Langston Hughes shows and asks for his rights as American citizen to be the same as the white people. He also expresses how he wants to walk around his own land without feeling no fear.

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Langston Hughes was an American poem born in the early nineteen hundreds, who became known as the leader of the Harlem Renaissance. He published many poems that brought light to the life of people of color in the twentieth century. There are three poems that the speakers are used to portray three major themes of each poem. Racism, the American Dream, and Hopes are all the major themes that Hughes uses to highlight the average life of a person of color. Theme for English B,” “Harlem,” and “Let America Be America Again” were three of Hughes’s poems that was selected to underline the themes.

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