Locke's Migration

Langston Hughes’s poem “Oppression” is expressed in the form of a protest. However, his composition of words are all contrary to the title. Langston begins his poem expressing negativity, even tragedy. “Now dreams are not available to the dreamers, Nor songs to the singers.” This logically is a tragic statement due to dreamers need dreams to be dreamers and singers need songs to be singers. The nature of tragedy is contrary to the nature of oppression, which is expressed here as a force that divides a harmonious relationships (e.g singers and there songs). At the end of langston’s poem he makes a form of prophecy or positivity. “But the dream will come back, and the song break its jail.“ this is contrast to his previous writing assuring the

The well known poet Langston Hughes was an inspiring character during the Harlem Renaissance to provide a push for the black communities to fight for the rights they deserved. Hughes wrote his poetry to deliver important messages and provide support to the movements. When he was at a young age a teacher introduced him to poets Carl Sandburg and Walt Whitman, and they inspired him to start his own. Being a “darker brother,” as he called blacks, he experienced and wanted his rights, and that inspired him. Although literary critics felt that Langston Hughes portrayed an unattractive view of black life, the poems demonstrate reality. Hughes used the Blues and Jazz to add effect to his work as well as his extravagant word use and literary

Langston Hughes was the leading voice of African American people in his time, speaking through his poetry to represent blacks. His Influence through his poems are seen widely not just by blacks but by those who enjoy poetry in other races and social classes. Hughes poems, Harlem, The Negro speaks of rivers, Theme for English B, and Negro are great examples of his output for the racial inequality between the blacks and whites. The relationship between whites and blacks are rooted in America's history for the good and the bad. Hughes poems bring the history at large and present them in a proud manner. The injustice that blacks face because of their history of once being in bondage is something they are constantly reminded and ridiculed for but must overcome and bring to light that the thoughts of slavery and inequality will be a lesson and something to remember for a different future where that kind of prejudice is not found so widely.

Hughes also takes the view of culture but he examines it from the view of blacks that are not stuck in the ghetto but have stable backgrounds. Hughes takes the view that blacks are actually hindering themselves. He says that there is a huge obstacle standing in the way of every black person. He actually makes a reference about artist but it can be viewed as any black person. He says the obstacle is, “this urge within the race toward whiteness, the desire to pour racial individuality into the mold of American standardization, and to be as little Negro and as much American as possible.” (Hughes, Langston) His example is a poet. This poet subconsciously wants to be white because he feels it will make him a better poet. This poet comes from a strong background in the middle class. According to Hughes, they attend church; the father has a steady job; the mother works on occasion; and the children attend mixed schools. However, the problem comes with how the parents treat their children. The mother says things like, “Don’t be like niggers” when the children are bad. In turn the father says things like, “Look how well a white man does things.” So in this home and many others, black is not praised or celebrated it is taught to be ashamed of. They are taught to want to be white. It is staggering what blacks do to themselves because of this. Fist Hughes says the more predominant don’t

The Harlem Renaissance was a cultural and social movement that occurred due to black migration to the north increasing the social and economic boom. Langston Hughes is one of the influential African Americans that contributed to the Harlem Renaissance, by writing about events and his surroundings, his work was able to help struggling African Americans. Langston Hughes was born in February 1, in 1902 in Missouri. He began writing poetry while living in Lincoln, Illinois and years later he launched his literary career with his poem “The Negro Speaks of Rivers”. Most of his writings were influenced by his upbringing in New York City’s Harlem, which was a predominantly black community.

Langston Hughes was a successful African-American poet of the Harlem renaissance in the 20th century. Hughes' had a simple and cultured writing style. "Harlem" is filled with rhythm, jazz, blues, imagery, and evokes vivid images within the mind. The poem focuses on what could happen to deferred dreams. Hughes' aim is to make it clear that if you postpone your dreams you might not get another chance to attain it--so take those dreams and run. Each question associates with negative effects of deferred dreams. The imagery from the poem causes the reader to be pulled in by the writer's words.

Langston Hughes’ dedication to depicting the bona fide aspects of black life leads him to discuss struggle. One of the most omnipresent themes in black life, at the time of Hughes, is the constant struggle they face every

Langston Hughes has a type of cynical view on America that seems to change its taste as he gets older. The first to look at is “I,Too” where he seems to have a hopeful view of his country and separates the citizens from the country. He says things such as “They’ll see how beautiful I am” which shows that he feels good about his future and the future of racial tension. Which he then transitions into “Let America be America again” where he is crtizieing the American people for saying that they are about liberty and freedom when they are his oppressors. It’s more of a call to action than his last few poems he is more so pointing out the injustices than just stating that there are some. And by the tone of the poem you can tell that he has lost

     Both poets use social protest to make their points. Langston is talking of times that were not particularly good in any way for African Americans. In the poem “Harlem [1]”, he speaks of a time when black people were considered lower than the average American citizen. He

The Harlem Renaissance was a prosperous time for African Americans in the 1920s. Literature, as well as poetry were vital for the uplifting of African Americans through historical awareness and creating a pop culture that symbolizes self-worth of African Americans. Sociologist Alain LeRoy Locke even introduced the phrase “The New Negro” to express the need for self awareness and self motivation that African Americans needed throughout the Harlem Renaissance. In the poetry of Countee Cullen and Claude McKay readers see a sense of reality for African Americans, rather than an uplifting message. Langston Hughes does provide inspirational messages to push forward in life while describing reality for African Americans, but the stories portrayed

Langston Hughes felt compelled to speak his mind for equality and his birthright freedom through his poetry. “Democracy will not come/ Today, this year/ Nor ever /Through compromise and fear” (lines 1 – 3). Hughes believed his rights as well as everybody else’s should parallel to those of the white people, without degrading themselves in any way. He declares he is an American and should have the right to stand on his two feet and own his land: “To stand/ On my two feet /And own the land” (lines 7 –

There were multiple great points that Langston Hughes presented in his essay. The points I will refer to in this essay are that Most Black Americans are not confident in theirselves to be original and be theirselves. Mr. Hughes starts the essay of by writing of a young Black American Poet being interviewed. The young poet wishes that he could write more like American poet. When he was called a Negro Poet, he quickly denounced the name and tried to give credit to the Caucasian Poets. He did not want to be known as a Negro Poet, but as a "White Poet". This is what Hughes was tying to point to in his essay. He wanted the Black Americans to be confident in theirselves. He did not want the Black Americans to hide and just be passive. He wanted

I thought John Locke had the deepest and most true statement/idea because it made common sense, people could relate to it, and it brought up new things about our lives that I never thought about. A major reason I thought Locke’s ideas were true was because it made the most sense. The experiences we go through I believe really do help make us the people we are. Another reason I agree with his ideas is because I can relate to what he is portraying. The choices we choose and things we go through can change us forever. For example, you experience a war and now you might think war is never the answer to our problems. However, I am not sure our minds start as completely blank, but with certain broad guidelines that still give us the choice

The Harlem Renaissance sought to revitalize African American culture with a focus on arts and literature and creating socioeconomic opportunities (Harlem Renaissance). This temporal setting, predominantly the influence of the Harlem Renaissance, of Hughes’s life explains the purpose of Hughes’s writing: to express the oppression of African Americans and the imperfections of Hughes’s America and to heighten African American morale during his life through his writing.