Langston Hughes in the Harlem Renaissance Throughout the history of the United States there have been many cultural changes. The decade of the 1920s prominence not only affected the country economically, but socially as well. This is commonly referred to as the “Jazz Age,” “the Roaring 20s,” and most importantly the “Decade of Rebirth.” The decade of rebirth refers to the movement of African American writers, authors, and artists who fought for equality and civil rights. Poet Langston Hughes is a major influencer of this movement and in his poem “Theme for English B” greatly embodies the Harlem Renaissance as a whole. In this poem, Hughes acknowledges the differences between races, and attempts to unify the races with his poetic influence. The Harlem Renaissance was a movement of cultural freedom. The blacks wanted freedom from stereotypes that resulted in the country to split. In the 1920s there were distinct differences between blacks and whites, and one …show more content…
A acknowledgement of the diversity in the poem “Theme For English B” Langston Hughes stated, “I am the only colored student in my class,” and this shows how there wasn’t equality in any sense of their lives. They had to fight and struggle to have the same chances that white people did. This set them apart and made them different. Beyond the social aspect of people being “forced” to be different the blacks celebrated their differences and didn’t necessarily want to be the same. Black people and white people had to accept that no matter their differences that they would have to collaborate and be a part of each other, “Sometimes perhaps you don’t want to be a part of me./ Nor do I often want to be a part of you./ But we are, that's true!”, while you can see and appreciate the separation between races it would be purely ignorant to not see that in order to function as a society you have to put that aside and work