Have you ever been denied respect or responsibility not based on your effort but solely based on the color of your skin? Discrimination is a sad truth that affects many people in our nation, and those who have never had to face it often turn a blind eye. However, poet Langston Hughes tried to use his platform to shed light on the African American’s struggles through description of his own experience. In his works Harlem, I Too, and Let America Be America Again, he presents the theme of inequality as not only a personal issue, but a threat to all of America.
In the 1820s, Harlem, New York experienced an artistic and cultural outburst which in part sparked the civil rights movement of the late 1940s. Langston Hughes’ Harlem focuses on the idea of a dream that is put off, and what happens to this hope as it is suppressed. This “dream deferred” is a reference to the African American strive for equality and freedom. The only italicized line in the poem occurs at the very end, stating “…or does it [the dream] explode?”. This line emphasizes that in the case of this specific dream, an explosion is exactly what occurred. After centuries of oppression and hatred, the African American dream suddenly gushed into the form of artistic expression. Black people were finally able to articulate their hurt in a creative way which would be received by many. This prompted other Americans to understand how racism and discrimination where a wide-affecting issue, and not only the concern of the individual.
Langston Hughes wanted to focus on the large-scale impact of racism, but to do that he first had to share the small individual influences it has on each African American’s life. His poem I Too is a commentary on colorism in America and the collective hope for a better and more progressive future. The first line reads, “I am the darker brother, they send me to eat in the kitchen when company comes…”. This shows how even his black family is embarrassed to have a darker child, as if his skin color will tarnish their image. It draws attention to the possible psychological affects internalized discrimination could have on a growing generation of people. Despite this, the next two stanzas shift in tone, from melancholy to optimistic as Hughes writes, “Tomorrow… They’ll see how beautiful I am and be ashamed”. These lines show a glimmer of hope that America will change its viewpoint and will no longer discriminate based on skin color. It is a wish that society will rather learn to celebrate the beauty of darker skinned people, and be ashamed of how they once treated them as inferior. This is a call to all to prove how the majority’s racist and discriminatory actions can damage a person, and an appeal for those people to be accepted by white America.
Hughes references the founding principles on which America was formed in his work Let America Be America Again. He draws attention to the irony that the basic ideas upon which America was created are not applied to black Americans because of racism, and he dreams of the day they will eventually be. The line, “Let my land be a land where… opportunity is real, and life is free. Equality is in the air we breathe”, is a plea for America to actually be the country its founding fathers suggest it would be, where all men— not just of Caucasian decent— are created equal. A very strong part of the poem is, “America was never America to me, And yet I swear this oath— America will be!”. The first half of this line was repeated throughout the piece, which shows how black people feel isolated and out of place in their country because of the endless discrimination they face. However, it ends with a rather bold statement that one day America will be the place for him, as equality will come eventually.
As any poet, Hughes is very specific in his word choice and sentence structure in the interest of highlighting underlying meaning in his texts. In Harlem, he writes the line “Or fester like a sore— and then run,” as a suggestion of what may happen to a dream put off. He uses the word ‘fester’ to employ vividly grotesque imagery, a sore ‘running’ represents the slow and steady release of the dream. Despite not being the case of the Harlem Renaissance, it provides stark contrast to the ‘explosion’ which actually occurred. In Let America Be America Again he states “The steel of freedom does not stain. From those who live like leeches on the people’s lives, we must we must take back our land,”. This employs very negative connotation to refer to the white people who discriminate and build off the backs of people they consider ‘inferior’. The suggestion of ‘taking back’ the land, gives the impression of using almost aggressive strategies to restore equality. In both circumstances, the word choice emphasizes a point in which something must be done to stop the discrimination against black people, whether it be by communication through art and song, or more indiscrete methods.
Langston Hughes often uses his poetry to embody the point of view of underprivileged people who face harsh discrimination in America. In I Too he says, “I am the darker brother”, which gives him an opportunity to talk from firsthand experience about colorism and its negative effects. Using this method, he can write from a more personal stance, and thus add more emotion to the piece. He especially utilizes point of view in Let America Be America Again, where he states, “I am the poor white, fooled and pushed apart, I am the Negro bearing slavery’s scars. I am the red man driven from the land, I am the immigrant clutching the hope I seek…”. He writes from the perspective on an oppressed person and can relate to others who have been driven out or hurt by prejudices and racism prevalent in society. This not only gives other minorities a reason to fight for equality for all, it also draws attention to the circumstances in which some people must live their everyday lives, and guilt trips those who decide to make their life so miserable.
While many may think that Hughes speaks only of his personal struggle, he spoke for all of his race. Critical Analyst Arthur P. Davis claims, “The Harlem theme in Hughes’ poetry would… serve as an index the changing attitude of the Negro during the last quarter of a century”. Davis states the purpose of Hughes’ poetry is to mirror the struggles and desires of all Black Americans of his era, “When he depicts the hopes, the aspirations, the frustrations, and the deep-seated discontent of the New York ghetto, he is expressing the feelings of Negroes in black ghettos throughout America,”. Most of his works give a theme of yearning for a better America, and the tone can be described as, “Tense and moody, the inhabitants of this 1951 Harlem seem to be seeking feverishly and forlornly for some simple yet apparently unattainable satisfaction… [leading to] this note of dissatisfaction and unrest,” (Davis). The narrators in each of his poems have no illusion of the “the all-inclusiveness of the American democracy”, they are blatantly aware of the horrid racism occurring and know that it must come to an end.
Racism and colorism are still prevalent issues today. People of color still face discrimination in the work force and are targeted more by police as they are seen as more ‘violent’ based on the skin color. Unfortunately, the darker one is, the uglier and more dangerous they are seen. ADD MORE! HALF A PAGE!
Vox.com graphed charts which showed “From earnings to getting a college education to incarceration, black Americans generally do worse than their white peers. For all the hope that King professed, America is still a land of racial inequality.” and “black people are much more likely to be shot and killed by the police than white people. Studies have suggested that socioeconomic factors and crime rates don’t fully explain the gap — and that racial bias may be a factor” REVISE! HALF A PAGE!
Considering Hughes’ discontent with racism as portrayed in his poems, he would probably be disgusted with the lack of progress of America in the past century. He spoke of unrest due to the inequality and discrimination he and so many others faced in the 1920s, and almost 100 years later people of color are still being treated with less respect than others. He would argue that the equality is long overdue, and we must continue to fight for it.