Harlem Renaissance

Location and Description Bronzeville is community area 38, one of Chicago’s designated neighborhoods. It is one of the well-defined Chicago Community Areas. Located on the South Side of Chicago, with Cermak Road, 22nd Street, on the north, Washington Park on the South, Federal Street to its west and Lake Michigan as its eastern border this area is rich in culture and history. Bronzeville also includes the Washington Park Court district that was declared a landmark on October 2, 1991. The…

Anthologies: Bruchac, J., London, J., & Locker, T. (1992). Thirteen moons on turtle's back: A Native American year of moons. New York: Philomel Books. In this children’s poetry book the author uses a collection of Native American legends from several tribes including the Cherokee, Cree, and Sioux. The poems focus on the thirteen moons of the year while touching on topics ranging from seasons, harvest time, appreciation of animals, and happenings in nature. This piece was chosen for its…

Hughes sees as the mountains in his article “The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain” that stands in the way most black people literary expression such as color, economic hardship and brainwash. First symbolic mountain he comprehends that being not self-confidence with their own color and dreaming to be someone else such as white especially those who are gifted of art such as poet. Instead of being themselves and enhance their beauty, hard work, and natural gift using who they are, mostly they…

In "Let America Be America Again," Langston Hughes transparently shares his musings on the American Dream. Hughes made this ballad in 1935 and it was distributed in the July 1936 issue of Esquire Magazine. It showed up again in 1937 in Kansas Magazine. Decades later, in 2004, Democratic Senator John Kerry utilized the ballad's title as his trademark for his Presidential Campaign while running against George W. Bramble. All through the sonnet, Hughes differentiates his desires for America with…

Paradoxical Tunes Born into an unjust world in 1902, Langston Hughes quickly experienced what would later influence his main purpose in life – racial and economic issues. Due to these issues, Langston became a fan of the way the Soviet Union was run and even went as far as to defend their practices. Although he was called to testify because he was believed to sympathize with the Soviet Union, he ended up explaining his adoration for the Soviet Union while on trial. Hughes only admired the way…

One of Nelson Mandela’s famous song lyrics is “It seems impossible until it’s done” Elie Wiesel & Langston Hughes are both authors of a book and poem about their lives of discrimination. The author’s use of imagery and tone help the reader understand what they felt and their attitude towards their experience. The novel and poem have many similarities through imagery and tone. Using imagery both authors describe their attitudes during their experience. In the novel, “Night” by Elie…

“Harlem” (page 915) by Langston Hughes is my favorite poem I have read. This poem in particular was super descriptive, straight to the point, and most intriguing to me. While reading this poem it left me with curiosity and wonder. The writer uses amazing words that drag my attention into the poem allowing me to read beyond just the words, giving me the opportunity to put myself in the writers shoes. By doing this I did a little background research of the poet. In order to understand this poem in…

In the Langston Hughes’ poem “Theme for English B,” he writes about an African American college student who is given a writing assignment. This student is instructed to write a page of something truthful from himself. Through the poem, he considers his own personal truths and he questions whether his race makes his preferences differ from that of other races. He concludes that everyone is connected and that we all can stand to benefit from each other. Hughes uses apostrophe and understatement in…

“Theme for English B” , written by Langston Hughes speaks of how he is the only colored student in his class. He writes about how things are different for him compared to everyone else, since he is colored. He begins to wonder if his writing will be different because of the color of his skin. In his poem he says “So will my page be colored that I write? Being me, it will not be white. Since he doesn’t talk about or show any coming of age this is not a bildungsroman. The focus of the poem…

Langston Hughes’ poem, “Harlem [Dream Deferred],” is filled with imagery to help him communicate the general theme. Throughout the entire poem, Hughes’ ultimate goal is to express what happens to the African American dream in Harlem. The African American community was promised equality but have not received it in the way as promises. African Americans post World War II were still struggling just as before. Hughes asked specific questions and is able to create images in the readers head to…