The Harlem Renaissance of the 1920’s and the ‘30s was known as the “New Negro Movement”, which was named after the 1925 anthology by Alain Locke. The Renaissance was an intellectual, social, and artistic movement that took place in Harlem, New York. This was considered to be a rebirth of African American arts. One of its main goals was to put an end to white supremacy. By the 1930’s, about 20 percent of African Americans had lived in the North due to the Great Migration. Here, African Americans gained better lifestyles with higher wages. The largest African American community developed in Harlem, a town that became famous in the 1920s for its number of talented actors, artists, musicians, and writers. Due to their artistic achievements, the period from 1920 to 1930 is known as the Harlem Renaissance.
To begin, Langston Hughes, an American poet, novelist, and playwright, was born on February 1, 1902, in Joplin, Missouri. His African American themes made him a primary contributor to the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s and 1930s. Hughes attended Columbia University for only one year as he left school to travel to help others. Hughes published his very first poem in 1921. His poetry was later promoted by Vachel Lindsay, and Hughes published his very first book in 1926. As time passed, he continued to write poems and plays because this was his true passion in life. Hughes later passed away on May 22, 1967 in New York City.
Hughes is best known for his insightful portrayals of the African American life in the U.S. from the 1920s to the 1960s. He wanted to tell the stories of his people in ways that would reflect their culture, including their suffering, love of music, laughter, and language itself. Hughes was widely regarded as one of the most important writer and thinkers of the Harlem Renaissance Era. His literary works helped shape American literature and politics. He and others involved in the Harlem Renaissance had a strong sense of racial pride, as seen throughout his work. In his poetry and novels, he advocated for African American equality and condemned racism and injustice towards blacks; he celebrated their culture, humor, and spirituality. Thus, he was known as the most influential poet of the Harlem Renaissance.
Furthermore, two of Langston Hughes’s poems are called “The Negro Speaks Of River” and “Let America Be America Again”. “The Negro Speaks Of River” was Langston Hughes’s most well known and anthologized poem during the Harlem Renaissance. This poem centered on African Americans of the 1920s. This moving poem dramatically portrays what it is truly like to be an African American and this helps to assure Hughes’s continuing fame.
“…I’ve known rivers ancient as the world and older than the
flow of human blood in human veins…
I bathed in the Euphrates when dawns were young.
I built my hut near the Congo and it lulled me to sleep.
I looked upon the Nile and raised the pyramids above it.
I heard the singing of the Mississippi when Abe Lincoln
went down to New Orleans, and I’ve seen its muddy
bosom turn all golden in the sunset.
I’ve known rivers:
Ancient, dusky rivers.
My soul has grown deep like the rivers.”
Through the images of the river in his poem, Hughes traces the history of African Americans’ migration from Africa to America. The muddy Mississippi Rivers makes Hughes consider the roles that the rivers have played in humanity. The first 3 lines of this poem is an indicator of the overall main idea and subject of the poem. The primary image of the water symbolically represents the history of humans by acknowledging the fact that rivers are more ancient in the history of the earth. He has known the rivers as “ancient as the world” and older than the blood that flows in people’s veins. This poem was the very first poem Hughes wrote. He wrote this in 1920 at the age of 17 while traveling on a train to visit his father in Mexico.
“Let America be America Again” is another poem that Hughes wrote during his career. In this poem, he opens up with the notion that America is not the dream that it used to be. Hughes says “Let America be America again” because it is no longer the America it used to be. In the fifth line, where he says “America was never America”, he is implying how freedom, liberty, and justice did not truly exist in America, as seen by the unequal treatment of blacks and whites. He also alludes to the Statue Of Liberty being a symbol of freedom. However, he pines for a country where freedom is not just a plain symbol, but an actuality.
In conclusion, Langston Hughes was one of the most influential writers and poets of the Harlem Renaissance Era. His two poems show how outspoken he was about fighting for African Americans’ rights and freedom, as well as ending injustice. They allude to the Civil Rights Movement and the fight for African American equality. Overall, he was one of the most important writers of the 20th century and made a huge impact on American society.