Thomas Hughes

over a million African-Americans. In Harlem African-Americans found a cultural center of their own, from which they could re-define the degrading nature of the Negro identity with strives in literature, music, and poetry. Artists like poet Langston Hughes fought to destroy the stereotype that African-Americans were lazy and stupid, musician Duke Ellington helped cultivate the nation’s very first musical export, jazz. Tuned into the jazz craze was the Flapper Movement, during which women…

males. However, as movies consolidated as a highly profitable business, film producers sought to expand their audience. Because of this, coming-of-age movies that explored teenagers’ issues were particularly popular. Screenwriter and director John Hughes produced numerous films, including Weird Science (1985), The Breakfast Club (1985), and Pretty in Pink (1986), among others. The films’ success is credited with presenting teenagers as relatable protagonists, instead of mere background…

Urbanization and industry transformed Midwest from agricultural to urbanized economies with trading hubs in cities like Chicago. This transformation from rural to urban sparked the Great Migration, a mass movement of African Americans from the South to industrialized cities in the North. This influx of African American communities challenged the existing racial constructs in the metropolis and gave rise to new socially constructed identities and means of self-expression. Davarian L. Baldwin…

Jimmy Carter delivered a speech on July 15th, 1979, that originally intended to focus on the serious energy crisis America faced at the time, but he instead surprised the nation by delivering a speech on the America’s crisis of confidence instead. In “The Crisis of Confidence Speech”, he addresses the country saying that the biggest problem the nation faces at the time is that it lacks the will and confidence of the people to do great things. At this time the nation was in the midsts of the Cold…

In the poem ‘Mother, any distance greater than a single span’, Simon Armitage has used symbolism to support the idea of a mother holding her child back and not wanting to let go. My first point will be his symbol of a tape measure as the years of the child growing older, followed an anchor as the mother and a kite as the child. This shows us that although things are changing, it is still important to keep a strong relationship so that you always have someone to support you. No matter how…

James Mercer Langston Hughes was born on the 1st of February, 1902 in Missouri. His parents got a divorce when he was young, and he was raised by his grandmother till the age of thirteen. He worked odd jobs such as assistant cook, launderer, and busboy. In 1930, he won the Harmon gold medal for literature. He wrote several novels, short stories, plays and poems, and he was well known for his interest in Jazz and how it influenced his writing. His life and works helped start the Harlem…

Enter. look at mirror and touch your face and pull your skin. I have been looking at myself in this small silver mirror, so much that I think it is a part of me. I sit in front of it in the powder room every day, gazing into a blank expression. I stare and see this woman, this woman who once held beauty and eyes full of mystery and secrets. But every single day it is fading, the beauty is fading, the eyes, which were once so full of emotion, are fading. I am becoming dull and lifeless, day by…

As a result of the multitudes of eye-opening written works describing the African American plight, modern day society has become more progressive and determined to fight for racial equality. By recounting the persecution of African Americans, the poem “Sympathy” by Paul Laurence Dunbar and Maya Angelou’s autobiography “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” contribute to the quest for equal rights. Moreover, these pieces of literature share a central idea as they both focus on the African American…

Harlem, New York City, is known for the renaissance movement of art and music that emerged during the early 20th century. The “New Negro Movement” embraced African American culture and pride in opposition to the institutionalized and popular racism that followed many black people from the south. Extremely high rents kept tenants in Harlem poor and in this atmosphere, the cycle of oppression and violence was nearly impossible to escape. In the novel The Street, author Ann Petry illuminates the…

The Breakfast Club (1985) directed by John Hughes, illustrates the contrasting personalities of teenagers Allison, Andrew, Brian, Claire and John, as they spend their Saturday morning in detention. From early on, each character is portrayed to belong to a certain clique within their high school. Through this, the film highlights the different labels put on each individual, their more or less hostile interactions, and what factors influence the nature of these interactions. From the beginning,…