Glenn Hughes

The University of Central Florida's theatre program performed Spunk and the Harlem Literati in which I attended on the 22 of January 2016. The musical is based on the play Spunk by Zora Neale Hurston, an adaptation by theatre professor Belinda Boyd and also directed by Mrs. Boyd herself. The play takes place in Harlem during the 1920’s Renaissance in which there is an uprising in writing, poetry, and music amongst the African-American community. Through the use of narration, uplifting energy,…

Langston Hughes fits in the Harlem Renaissance category because his writings expanded African-American culture and helped demand rights for African-Americans. Langston wrote “I Too” which is about how a darker brother (an African-American) is American too, and he deserves to get the same treatment as everyone else. Moreover, in the story, they do not let the African-American man sit at the table because of his color, but he says he will find the strength to stand up for his self. For instance,…

Langston Hughes, who is a dominant poet of the Harlem Renaissance, has been significantly influenced by both the sounds and traditions of the growing blues and jazz community. The Harlem Renaissance is a 1920’s movement in Harlem, New York that sparked an increased growth in the art scene/community, largely seen in music, literature, and fashion. Considering Hughes such a strong advocator and lover of both jazz and blues music, he then began to write poetry in a style which was very heavily…

Merely alluding to the economic problems that cause widows to work late shifts and parents to leave unemployed teenagers unsupervised, Langston Hughes focuses on the universal power of love and trust in "Thank You, M'am." Hughes portrays the nobility of common people and the vitality of his African American culture in his works. Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones, whose name ironically recognizes both slavery codes of the founders of the United States and the dignity of the common people, gives…

James Mercer Langston Hughes was a famous poet in America who was also known to be a, novelist, social activist, columnist from Joplin, Missouri and playwright artist. James was one of the earliest innovators of Jazz poetry which during his time was known as then-new literary form. Hughes is particularly known for his colorful, insightful portrayals of black life in America from the 1920’s through to the 1960’s. He wrote short stories, plays, novels and as well as poetry. James graduated from…

Poetry Explication on “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” Langston Hughes's poem “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” is about becoming free. The speaker states that he has been to several places around the world. Each one of these places progressively gets more free. This is until the speaker ends with the time when “Abe Lincoln went down to New Orleans”(7). Which was the final step for African Americans and their freedom. By doing this, Hughes’s speaker implies that the African American’s journey to freedom…

In the poem “Harlem,” Langston Hughes examines the repercussions that could result from postponing an aspiration. The aspiration Hughes is referring to is achieving racial equality in America. He uses similes with imagery to clearly show what can happen when a dream is put off by an individual or by society as a whole. The first image that Hughes uses is “a raisin in the sun”(Hughes, line 3). A raisin is something that was once fresh, but, due to being in a harsh setting, has decayed and…

Considered as one of the most preeminent writers of the twentieth century African American, Zora Neale Hurston is a novelist, folklorist, essayist, short story writer, dramatist and an anthropologist. Hurston was an important figure in the Harlem Renaissance and a passionate promoter of the African American culture. However, she refused to let race and racism be the only focus of her work, something that she was criticized a lot for by her African American peers. Instead Hurston’s short stories…

Renaissance writers, one of the most important of which is James Mercer Langston Hughes. Hughes was American poet, columnist, novelist, playwright, and a social activist. Even more, he was the part of the innovators of the new literary art form of jazz poetry. Majority of his poems touched on the struggles of African Americans in white society. Also, the problems he endured throughout his life. When Jazz became popular, Hughes incorporated…

The majority of the population assumes that the Harlem Renaissance was a period in which racial prejudice and segregation was tolerated. As some discriminatory activity did occur, several African Americans did not endure the same physical abuse from the caucasian race as before. This era originated the period in which African-American achievements in art, music, and literature flourished. As the diversity in the United States continued to expand, more and more African Americans were living…