In the early twentieth century, the Harlem Renaissance flourished. This movement was an African American cultural awakening, especially in the creative arts. The movement was never controlled by a specific school of thought, however, it was distinguished through discourse and laid the groundwork for later African American literature. Although much of the movement concentrated in the Harlem district of New York City it was not confined there. Many African American musicians, artists, and writers blossomed as instigators for this cultural awakening, like Zora Neale Hurston, Claude McKay, and of course Langston Hughes to name a few (Hutchinson, p.1).
Langston Hughes was a pioneer of contemporary African American literature. His work, Montage of a Dream Deferred, is comprised of several poems which read as one, centered mainly on the African American community in post World War II Harlem. The overarching motif is of the dream deferred, which was Hughes’ way of responding to racial oppression in America. The dream deferred refers to how there is the American dream, which exists for white Americans, and the dream deferred reflects on how the ideals of the American dream do not always include all people, like African Americans, Jewish people, and any person who has heard “the music of a dream deferred” (Hughes, p.425). The subject of a dream deferred captures the nuances of oppression and the blatancy. That subtlety is part of the influence of how I’d like to approach my piece.