Langston Hughes : The Definition Of Being An American

Langston Hughes wrote a story about his memory of getting saved during a revival service at his aunt’s church. Howard Zinn wrote about a much broader topic, the American Revolution. On the surface, these two readings don’t seem to have anything in common. However, both stories focus on the theme of bullying and have other similarities. The differences between the stories are more important than the similarities. Overall, Salvation is a more believable story of bullying, but Untold Truths About the American Revolution seems to be Zinn’s rewrite of events leading to the war.

Claude McKay and Langston Hughes were both prominent African American Men in the Harlem Renaissance of the early 1900s. As such, they have received their fair share of the racism prevalent during this time period. Their concerns with this issue are addressed in McKay’s “America” and Hughes’ “I, Too, Sing America.” Both poets show disregard for the treatment they receive but still desire for an America in which African American prejudice does not exist. However, McKay conveys his vision of a bleak, foreboding fate for blacks while Hughes displays his confidence that America will have a hopeful future in which he is treated as an equal.

magine America with no rules, government, or any type of structure . This is thanks to Thomas Jefferson and the founding fathers for creating , The Declaration Of Independence . Although the Jefferson and the founding fathers anticipated a better country after the creation of the Declaration Of Independence , America has not fully fulfilled these hopeful ideals. However America has come a long way since then , we still have work to do as a nation .

As an American I am free. I know that I can say what I feel and do what I say. Getting to walk out the door every morning knowing that I’m safe is a privilege. Having clean clothes, new shoes, and food every day is something I’m thankful to have. Feeling safe under the protection of our forced is something that not every country gets to say. As American we are privileged, but we fought for it all 240 years ago when America won its independence and we have been fighting for it ever since. Since the creation of America 240 years ago, many envy the freedom and how strong American is. After every threat and every attack, America has stayed strong and bounced back from destruction. What does it mean to be an American? Being an American means that

When you think about what it means to be an American many things may cross your mind. You might think of your freedom to believe, say, and think anything you would like, or you may think of the many rights you have, or maybe our duties as Americans, you may even think of the idea of the “American Dream”. One thing that is for sure is that since the start of our nation to now, the idea of what it means to be an American has been sculpted into what it is today. Over the decades and eras there have been many different ideas of what it means to be an American, and that’s completely understandable because different times call for different ideas. When our nation was forming, the idea of what an American was was to be free.

If you are an American you are mighty lucky because you will be free forever.” Ashley M., another ten year old from wisconsin, says “To be an American to me means that I am free. That when I grow up I can pick the job I want, what shift to work. And to have a good education. It means that I can say "The Pledge of Allegiance" and that I can vote for the President, my county clerk, and the Mayor. But to me it means most of all to be free and to be proud that I live in the United States of America here in Wisconsin.” To these young people, America is the greatest country in the world because America does not discriminate as much as the country used to, America is free, and America is centered around equality. To others, being an American simply means that they can go to almost any restaurant over the country and buy a hamburger

What it means to be American is how you contribute to this country. Fighting for equal rights,fighting for America, fighting to be American everyday.To be American you have independence, determination to fight for what you have.To be American is to be proud of my country and defending our rights and our freedom rights.Being American is something we should be proud of we have a lot of freedom. For example we choose what school,church,study,travel,etc we want.Being American means were all treated equally no matter what race,or culture you're from. Being American gives us the right to be ourselves.

The renowned poet Langston Hughes grew up at a time prior to the Civil Rights era; a time where discrimination and prejudice were prominent parts of society. After traveling from city to city for a couple of years, he settled in Harlem at a time when the African-American artistic movement that celebrated black life and culture was under way: a.k.a the Harlem Renaissance. It was then that he put his experiences of his childhood into a skillfully written poem, “Let America be America Again”, which epitomizes not only the discrimination and inequality he faced while growing up, but the difficulties faced for all minorities seeking the “American dream. ”As the title suggests, the poem urges people to fix America’s problems, from its eminent discrimination

Langston Hughes’ “I, too America” and Shirley Geok-lin Lim’s “Learning to Love America” are both poems that happen to describe their American experience and finding their sense of personal identity. The diction of both poems not only helps describe the transitioning of Hughes and Lim’s lives but also helps the reader get a feel and understand the tone as well. If we were to discuss the similarities and differences in tone of the two poems, we would find that in “Learning to Love” there is an explanation on why Lim should love America. While the speaker in “I, too” already loves America he just has to get America to love him.

Langston Hughes inspired others to reach their true potential in their work by using their own life as a catalyst:

Your school board proposes that schools should “promote patriotic material, respect for authority, and the free market system” while it would, “in turn… avoid material about ‘civil disorder, social strife or disregard of the law’” (Hannon). In today’s schools, history class focuses on both the negative and positive aspects in our history. The hardships and mistakes are not voided. The board is making a preposition to change this. Our schools constantly make attempts to see the good in everything. We use this ignorance as a tool to shield ourselves from external grief. In doing this, we keep ourselves happy.

Despite social status, political views, religious views, or whether you’re a man, woman, southerner, homo-sexual, straight, cis, trans, non-binary, landowner, scholar, student, if you live in the United States of America, you are American. Being American means that you are home to freedom as well as diversity. The poem “ Learning to Love America ” by the immigrant Shirley Geok-Lin Lim says “to have a son is to have a country, because my son will bury me here, because countries are in our blood and we bleed them. ”2 She saw her son as because America would give him the best opportunity to be successful; to live the “American Dream”.

In “Let America be America Again,” Hughes reflects on the current discrepancy between the promises of justice and equality in the Constitution and Declaration of Independence and the current situation that Hughes faces. Anaphorically using the phrase “I am,” Hughes mentions the different types of people, including poor whites, Native Americans, and immigrants, that share the same struggle that African Americans face regarding the pursuit of equality and the American Dream. Emphasizing his ideal America with a caesura pause, Hughes writes, “and yet must be--the land where every man is free.” This line encapsulates Hughe’s desire for a America that includes African Americans and other minorities and finally upholding the nation’s promise that all Americans were created equal. Hughes also realizes that his ideal America will still require

Prior to Langston Hughes being recognized as a poet, when Hughes was twelve, his grandmother died forcing him to live with a family friend, Auntie Reed (Bryant). During the time of his stay with Auntie Reed, he was working at a white hotel, cleaning and shinning brass spittoons and mirrors, scoured toilets, scrubbed the halls and keep the lobby immaculate (Rampersad). The money he got from he used to go to movies where he had his early experience with racial discrimination. In the south laws kept blacks and whites separated but in Kansas if a business was privately owned, the rules didn’t apply. One day Hughes went to the movie theater where he had his first encounter with racial discrimination; a sign saying blacks couldn’t. (Bryant)

Virginia graduated first in her class in 1899. She had a MA in Medieval History in 1900. Later she returned to Columbia for a Ph.D. in English and Comparative Literature, which she earned in 1908. She continued her association with Barnard as an English tutor and lecturer for 11 years. After which she took the position of Dean for 36 more. The words "Government Regulation of Elizabethan Drama," marked the subject of her dissertation, merely the first piece in a long line of work in interdisciplinary studies. she turned down an associate professorship in English at the University of Wisconsin, despite being warned that academic advancement required a willingness to move from school to school at the beginning of one's career. Instead, she pieced