Why Is Langston Hughes Important To The Harlem Renaissance?

Whenever a group of like-minded people are allowed to congregate, it tends to be that the result of their collective minds leaves the world forever changed. Examples of this widespread of ideas can be found in the renaissance, the age of enlightenment, and most recently, the Harlem Renaissance. This marvellous movement was a time of great appreciation for African-American culture and heritage, which began in the slums of Harlem, New York, around 1920. This specific change in cultural tempo came about as less of a re-birth, and more of a first light for the brilliance of black poets who had been, and to some extent still were being, buried under the immense cover of the white majority in America. Each poet of this time contributed something unique and incredible to the rising movement, starting with a man named Langston Hughes. Hughes was born in 1902, and his voice rang loudest in the beginning of the Renaissance.

Clifton can be told apart from McElroy, who can be told apart from Hughes, yet each has roots that extend to their chronological successor. Part of what makes the poetry of these three so likeable is the fact that rather than writing aggressively or indignantly, they all have a way of writing that comes across as a celebration, of which Walt Whitman would be proud. Even in poems regarding racism, sexism, or any other unpleasant -isms, the tone is not angry, but wise, as if they all knew that their abilities extend beyond the discrimination they experience. Such a tone has astounding effect on the reader, and examples of it can be found all throughout history. It can be found at the base of nonviolent protest, the belief that success can be reached without the need for aggression. Awareness of power while also maintaining the level headedness of humility is the balance that creates the wisest and most unafraid of