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Maya Angelou And Langston Hughes Essay

559 Words3 Pages

Segregation and discrimination between African Americans and Americans were distinct during the Harlem Renaissance. During this time in history, African Americans were taking a stand for their rights and to obliterate segregation. African Americans slowly became more literate and began to have equal rights as those of Americans. Since discrimination was still present during the middle of the 1900’s, many individuals who were treated unfairly started to stand up for their rights. Two well-known poets, Langston Hughes and Maya Angelou, have decided to take a stand to put an end to the gap between both races. Langston Hughes’s poem “I, Too” and Maya Angelou’s poem “Still I Rise” have many similarities and differences. As both poems were written …show more content…

In Langston Hughes’s poem “I, Too, Sing America”, the context of the poem is based off of when he was segregated with an American family and how he will take a stand without hesitating. Langston Hughes is able to show the confidence and the beauty of a different race to another race showing that individuals are all equal. In Maya Angelou’s poem, “Still I Rise”, she is talking to a single person and communicates the potential of an individual when it comes to fighting for what is right. Maya Angelou describes her personal characteristics that may have obstructed the individual’s life. Although the individual that she is talking about has bashed her and mistreated her, she is seen as a great example to many other African Americans who have faced segregation by still standing up to what she believes in despite the bitterness she may have received. Hughes and Angelou state their message in two different scenarios; however, both have showed the power of rising up. Although many laws were being passed during this time period due to many rising up, the writings of the two poets have been able to inspire individuals to fight for equality. They both describe the harsh conditions they have faced in their own personal experience with segregation and show that they are not afraid to speak up. Even though both poems may be different in a multitude

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Some of the significant subjects were music, literature, poem, and art. The poets Langston Hughes and Claude McKay were some of the most influential poets from the renaissance. The poems “The Harlem Dancer” by Claude McKay and “I, Too” by Langston Hughes will be used to compare and show how two poems form the same era could be similar yet different based on their subject, purpose, style, tone, and rhythm. “I, Too” creates the world where people are treated equally. With so much discrimination and segregation occurring in the 20th century, it was a world that people wished for.

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849 Words | 4 Pages

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514 Words | 3 Pages

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2197 Words | 9 Pages

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858 Words | 4 Pages

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