“ I swear to the Lord, I still can’t see Why Democracy means Everyone but me “(Hughes’’. Langston Hughes eloquently uses contradictions to express racial inequality in The United States of America. Democracy, a word that suggests inclusiveness, but not practiced during Langston Hughes’s time. This inequality is what drove Hughes mastery of words. Langston Hughes was one of the millions of Black American who faced systemic injustice simply because of their skin color. A choice that no human can make for themselves. This inequality affected Black Americans like Langston Hughes as early as birth. Several laws supported inequality and segregation. Hughes was often fueled by the injustice he faced. The only way Hughes could express himself and make people understand was through poetry, books, and songs. His work is various from poetry, books, and songs. He wrote eight books, 20 plays ,16 volumes of poetry, three short story collections, and 32 songs. African American poet, songwriter, and novelist James Mercer Langston Hughes utilized his life experiences within his writings to illustrate his personal philosophies on race, personal ambitions, and the American dream. Throughout time the history of the black race has been overlooked due to discrimination. In the poem “ The Negro Speaks of Rivers,” Langston Hughes writes “I bathed in the Euphrates when dawns were young/I built my hut near the Congo and it lulled me to sleep./I looked upon the Nile and raised the pyramids above it”