Langston Hughes, Prolific Writer Of Black Pride During The Harlem Renai

During a time where racism was at its height in America, Jim Crow laws separated blacks from mainstream white society. Where the notion of â€Å"separate but equal† was widely accepted in America, blacks were faced with adversity that they had to overcome in a race intolerant society. They were forced to face a system that compromised their freedom and rights. Blacks knew that equal was never equal and separate was definitely separate (George 8-9). Blacks had to fight for their rights because it wasn’t handed to them. Racism manifested itself on many levels and had to be fought on many levels. This gave rise to influential black leaders in the fight for civil rights. Langston Hughes was one of those black leaders who arose during the Harlem Renaissance. He gave his people a voice and encouraged pride and hope through his literary work, to overcome racial discrimination. Langston Hughes lived during the time of the Harlem Renaissance, an African American cultural movement of the early 1920s and 1930s that was centered in the Harlem neighborhood of New York City. It also came to be known as the New Negro movement, marked the first time that mainstream publishers and critics took African American literature seriously and that African American literature and arts attracted significant attention from the nation at large. Although it was primarily a literary movement, it was closely related to developments in African American music, theater, art, and politics. This was also the time of the â€Å"Great Migration†, where more blacks were migrating from the rural South to the urban North, to seek better jobs and lives for their families (George 62). This new identity blacks to gain a new social consciousness and opportunity that was not available ... ...a fifty seven story famous historic landmark building in New York. â€Å"I’ve been a singer: All the way from Africa to Georgia I carried my sorrow songs.† There have been many famous black singers who have made a name for themselves. Singing songs of the blues, gospel etc. telling their stories through melodies and soul. â€Å"I’ve been a victim: The Belgians cut off my hands in the Congo. They lynch me still in Mississippi.† Here Hughes shows that blacks have been objects of violent hate. But at the end of the poem Hughes repeats â€Å"I am a Negro: Black as the night is black, black like the depths of my Africa.† This shows that although blacks have been treated in ways in which no human should be treated. We still kept moving forward never giving up hope and faith, that a change would come. We have accomplished many things in our past and we can use this to motivate our future.