The Harlem Renaissance

     Langston Hughes was one of the most important writers and thinkers of the Harlem Renaissance. Hughes creative intellect was influenced by his life in New York City’s Harlem neighborhood. Hughes had a very strong sense of racial pride. Through his works he promoted racial equality and celebrated the African American culture. It was in Lincoln, Illinois that Hughes started to write his poetry. In November 1924, he moved to Washington D.C. where he published his first book of poetry. Hughes is known for his insightful, colorful portrayals of black life in America. Langston is also known for his commitment to jazz. Hughes refused to distinguish between his personal and common understandings of black America. He

In “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” The speaker Hughes asserts that he has referred to rivers as ancient as the world, more seasoned than the blood that streams in our veins. His soul has developed profound, much the same as the rivers. He expounds on bathing in the Euphrates toward the start of civilization, and later, he fabricated a hut along the Congo and tuned in to the river as he nodded off. He took a gander at the Nile and watched the pyramids rise adjacent; he heard the sloppy Mississippi sing when Abraham Lincoln flew out to New Orleans. He rehashes that he has known ancient, dusky rivers, and his soul has developed profound like the rivers. On the other hand, McKay’s poem is about the past which was faced by the speaker as a great

In conclusion, the poem was used as a key to unlock some of the thoughts the negro had concerning Africa. The negro in this poem was a representative of all negroes during this time; their thoughts and the their feelings toward Africa. Cullen’s usage of the literary devices allow for an effective expression of the meaning of this poem. Poems are intensified language of experience, so the devices assured the connection of the reader to the poem and the experience. This applies to many issues in society today because as beautiful as our country is there are still dark clouds that cover the very essence of what the states once stood

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.

The poem ?The Negro Speaks of Rivers? by Langston Hughes contains many symbolic meanings about the identity of African Americans. Throughout the poem Hughes uses metaphorical statements to suggest to the reader what the soul of the African American has been through. The symbols of the old rivers from which the African American ideal has risen can be interpreted in many different ways. They represent the birth and growth of the African American culture, and some of the most significant moments of their past. The words written in this poem represent the pride and knowledge of a group of outstanding people.

The Harlem Renaissance was a time of great commotion spanning the 1920s, also known as the “New Negro Movement.” One of the more well-known movers and shakers of the Harlem Renaissance is Langston Hughes. He amongst other artist brought new forms of black cultural expressions into urban areas that had been affected by The Great Migration. Harlem was the largest area affected by said Great Migration. Though the Harlem Renaissance was centered in Harlem the power and strength contained in the words of artist such as Langston Hughes reached Paris and even the Caribbean. Langston Hughes was a key figure in the Harlem Renaissance movement. His vast amounts of work are what brought attention to the struggles and realities of the time

The Harlem Renaissance was a time where creativity flourished throughout the African American community. At the time many African Americans were treated as second class citizens. The Harlem Renaissance acted as artistic and cultural outlet for the African-American community. The Harlem Renaissance, otherwise known as “The New Negro Movement” was an unexpected outburst of creative activity among African Americans In the poems Harlem by Langston Hughes, America by Claude McKay, and Incident by Countee Cullen all use frustration and hope as reoccurring themes to help empower the African-American population and realize the injustices they face day to day. The Harlem Renaissance was a period marked by great change and forever altered the

The Harlem Renaissance was a movement that reflected the culture of African Americans in an artistic matter during the 1920’s and the 1930’s. Countless African Americans who participated in this faction showed a different side of the “Negro Life.” It rejected the stereotypes that were given to them. This period in history was thronged with artists, musicians, and writers who portrayed their thoughts into their pieces. Artists of such comprised of Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, and Langston Hughes. It was an influential and intoxicating party, inspiring others to fight for what they desired believed in. The Harlem Renaissance was the start of the Civil Rights Movement. It gave African Americans racial pride, they gained more respect through the movement; additionally, the music, writing, and art challenged the stereotypes that faced them.

The Harlem Renaissance was the name given to the social, cultural and artistic explosion that took place in Harlem during the end of World War 1. The time of the 1920’s was a time of change for everyone. During the 1920’s, the Harlem Renaissance was the most influential movement where African Americans came together and created multiple things that was unique to their race such as; music, literature, poetry, and much more which really impacted the way African Americans stood up together in a country controlled by whites.

This poem was written during the Harlem Renaissance so it was definitely a projection of what the African-American community was going through. When the speaker says “I’ve known rivers” (Hughes 526) and then lists the Euphrates, the Congo, the Nile, and the Mississippi. The Euphrates is what historians and archaeologists often label as the birthplace of human civilization. Then, he mentions the strong and mighty Congo, which many great African kingdoms have flourished. The speaker then cites the long, winding Nile and the great Egyptian pyramids.

One of his earliest poems, The Negro Speaks of Rivers, was written in 1921, long before Hughes would actually travel the world. However, without knowing the authors background and history, one might think it was written by a wise man of old age. Having only lived in various places in the United States, Hughes wrote this poem of an African American man who has seen the world, full with things many people never get to see, that nourished his soul and formed bonds with humans' deepest roots. The four rivers the narrator is mentioning, the Euphrates, the Congo river, the Nile and the Mississippi river, are all of great importance not only in the lives of all human beings, but slaves in particular.

In Langston Hughes’ “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” used rivers to describe African American people and I agree he described them to be equal, using metaphors, similes, and allusions. Langston Hughes wrote this poem in 1921 when racial issues between Caucasian and African American people were a significant problem. The poem is written in “free verse” and uses anaphora to give the reader the effect that he is the one telling the poem. The poem gives the reader the understanding that African American people have been around for as long as Caucasian people and are equally intelligent. The rivers give us a great meaning to the history of African American people and the narrator has known their struggle. There is a feeling of death towards the end of the poem. This gives the reader the impression that we are still struggling to be equal and it has withered him until his death.

Langston Hughes was the leader of the Harlem Renaissance. The Harlem Renaissance was the name given to the cultural and artist explosion that took place in Harlem between the end of WWI and the middle of the 1930’s. Hughes grew up, without his dad, being raised by his single mother alone. They lived in poverty for all of Hughes’s upbringing. Langston Hughes wrote a poem in 1922 called “Mother to Son”.

Jennifer Arroyo Have you ever wonder how life was in the Harlem Renaissances? The Harlem Renaissance was a movement in which Blacks asserted themselves by embracing. Their racial identity and appreciating their African heritage instead of mimicking white mainstream culture in art, literature and music. In the poem “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” it lets us know early in the poem that is told from the perspective of a member of the black community. In the poem “I, Too” is states how african americans were faced discrimination in nearly every aspect of their lives.

Credited as being the most recognizable figure of the Harlem Renaissance, Langston Hughes played a vital role in the Modernist literary movement and the movement to revitalize African American culture in the early 20th century. Hughes’s poems reflect his personal struggle and the collective struggle of African Americans during this cultural revival.