Harlem Globetrotters

Langston Hughes was an African American writer born in the early 20th century. He became a well-known and important author by discussing themes concerning race and politics from a young age in various genres, for example poetry. In a varying degree of colloquial language and a jazz inspired rhythm, Hughes conveyed his messages to his audience through a lifetime long career of writing that began around the time he published the poem “The Negro Speaks of Rivers,” which in this essay will be…

past times African American people were discriminated against and segregated, making a lot of people stand up for their rights in different ways. The speech written by Martin Luther King, “I have a dream” and the poem written by Langston Hughes, “Harlem”, both of them talk about the times of the brutality over African American people. The two works are similar because they both talk about African Americans not having the right of freely expressing their dissatisfaction with oppression. However,…

In 1831, at the age of twelve, Walt Whitman began working for his local newspaper. He soon fell in love with the written word and started writing his own poetry (“Poet Walt Whitman”). Fast forward to the turn of the 20th century, and Whitman has already made a name for himself as one of America’s most influential poets. Two of Whitman’s most esteemed works are “O Captain! My Captain!”, written in 1865 to reflect on Abraham Lincoln's death, and “O Me! O Life!”, written in 1891 to contemplate…

“La raza! / Méjicano! / Español! / Latino! / Chicano! / Or whatever I call myself / I look the same / I feel the same / I cry / And / Sing the same. / I am the masses of my people and / I refuse to be absorbed. / I am Joaquín” (Gonzales, 1969). These powerful words were taken from Rodolfo “Corky” Gonzales’s, poem “I am Joaquin”, which revolutionized the definition of “Chicano” in the late 1900’s. Although many are challenging the traditional definition of Chicano social identity as it was seen…

literature” and “Negro-American culture,” where the latter has to deal with cultural double-consciousness. Furthermore, Locke connects what would come to be known as the Harlem Renaissance to the larger global movement of actively reframing racial and national identity: “Yet the New Negro must be seen in the perspective…

“What happens to a dream deferred?”(Hughes, line 1). Hughes’ poem asks the question of what unknown ways a dream will decay. The title of the book A Raisin in the Sun was named after one of Hughes questions. He asks if a dream will dry up like a raisin in the sun. The book A Raisin in the Sun features many distinct characters with their own ideologies and ambitious dreams. These characters would be Walter Lee Younger, Beneatha Younger, and Ruth Younger. A raisin drying up in the sun describes…

He grew up in a turbulent time of depression in America. The Ku Klux Klan had very many members during the 1910’s and 1920’s, which Langston was a teenager and young adult through. Mr. Hughes was an important writer and thinker of the Harlem Renaissance. The Harlem Renaissance was the African American artistic movement in the 1920’s that celebrated black life and culture. He turned to writing books and poetry that led him to write “Let America Be America Again.” Hughes reiterates the phrase of…

The “roaring 20s” on the surface was extravagant, a time of the jazz age, new hollywood cinema, economic prosperity, new consumerism, and a revolution to the old rigid traditions of the 19th century. Politically, the red scare has swept across america, as conservatism becomes very popular to combat “the others”, of radical communism playing off the recent WW1. However within america, the opposite of roaring promise was the case for many americans. Foner reports the reality of the average…

During the Harlem Renaissance, Langston Hughes was a prevalent author who voiced the struggles of African Americans through his work. His stories and poems were an outlet in which he painted a vibrant picture of the daily experiences of African Americans. Hughes lures readers in with his firsthand outlook on the endeavors of those sharing his heritage and background. Racism is widely known, but Hughes takes readers to a personal level as he describes his everyday experiences with it. He…

Langston Hughes was a writer, poet and leader of the Harlem Renaissance, which is known as the flowering of African American music, art, dance, philosophy and most importantly, literature. Literature from the Harlem Renaissance inspired an additional famous writer and poet, Maya Angelou. Both wrote exceptional poems such as Hughes’ “I, Too, Sing America” and Angelou’s “Still I Rise”. Despite being from the same genre, they can be contrasted, compared and analyzed. In Hughes’ poem, he…