During the 1900’s many African Americans moved from the south to the north in an event called the Great Migration. Many of the southern African Americans migrated to a place called Harlem. This is where it all began. Harlem became the breeding ground for blues, jazz, and gave birth to a new generation of Negro Artist. They referred to themselves as the New Negro. The New Negro was the foundation for an era called the Harlem Renaissance. The Harlem Renaissance allowed for the manifestation of the double consciousness of the Negro race as demonstrated by artists such as Langston Hughes. During the height of the Harlem Renaissance Langston Hughes created poetry that was not only artistically and musically sound but also captured a blues essence giving life to a new style of poetry as it depicted the African American struggles with self and society. One thing is for sure, Hughes consistent use of common themes allows them to be the very basis of the Harlem Renaissance. Langston Hughes is one of the most influential icons of the Harlem renaissance because of his poetry and musical talent. Langston Hughes was one of the most influential poets during the Harlem Renaissance. With the use of blues and Jazz Hughes managed to convey a range of different themes all revolving around the Negro. “[Langston Hughes] The first poet to transform the idioms of blues and jazz into poetic verse” (Johnson and Farrell 55). This use of blues in written work was called the blues aesthetics. Hughes’s “Bound No’th Blues” is a perfect example of the Blues Aesthetics. “The blues reflects the trials and tribulations of the Negro in America on a secular level” (Waldron 140). “Bound No’th Blues” reflects the journey of a southern African American who m... ... middle of paper ... ...l icons of the Harlem renaissance because of his poetry and musical talent. Works Cited Alice Walker, Don Miller. “Langston Huges American Poet.” March, 1 1974 Davis, Author P. "The Harlem of Langston Hughes' Poetry." Phylon (1940-1956) 4th ser. 13.4 (1952): 276-283. Clark Atlanta University. . www.jstor.org. (1940-1956) Johnson, Patricia A., and Walter C. Farrell. "How Langston Hughes Used the Blues." Melus Oppression and Ethnic Literature 6.1 55-63. The Society for the Study of the Multi-Ethnic Literature of the United States (MELUS). www.jstor.org. (1971): Trotter, Joe W. "The Great Migration." OAH Magazine of History World War I 17.1 31-33. Organization of American Historians. . www.jstor.org (2002). Waldron, Edward E. "The Blues Poetry of Langston Hughes." Negro American Literature Forum 5.4 140-49. St. Louis University. www.jstor.org. (1971):
Berry, Faith. Langston Hughes Before and Beyond Harlem Connecticut: Lawrence Hill and Company Publishers, 1983
R: Trotman, C. 1995. Langston Hughes: The Man, His Art, and His Continuing Influence. Routledge 1995
“The Weary Blues” speaks of a person hearing a Negro playing the blues on a piano “Down on Lenox Avenue the other night,”. The poem is centered around this event, explaining “He did a lazy sway…He did a lazy sway…” It seems that Hughes was addressing the common link of Negro’s, urban life, and the blues music seventy years ago; quite a different approach than his other work.
Poetry was a big part of the Harlem Renaissance, especially black poetry. Poetry helped people get their emotions out and provided an outlet for many new and old African-Americans, and for Africans just arriving in the United States in Harlem. The Renaissance was filled with great poets including the great Langston Hughes. Hughes is the author of his own book The Weary Blues and the writer of the poems Not without Laughter and The Way of the White Folks. He believed in the beauty of the Africans, as stated on Shmoop “Hughes knew that black was beautiful.” He won the Harlem gold medal for literature for his literary work and helped shape the artists of the Harlem Renaissances contributions to the movement. Hughes was also the founder of three theaters meant as outlets for black actors and dramatists. The names of these theaters are the New Negro Theater, Langston Hughes Preforming Arts, and Black Arts (“Langston Hughes Founded Theaters”). Langston Hughes was a very popular and
The Great Migration, or the movement of more than 6 million African Americans from the provincial South to the urban communities of the North, Midwest
Hughes, Langston. "The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain." The Portable Harlem Renaissance Reader. David Levering Lewis, ed. New York: Viking Penguin, 1994, 91-95.
Like most, the stories we hear as children leave lasting impacts in our heads and stay with us for lifetimes. Hughes was greatly influenced by the stories told by his grandmother as they instilled a sense of racial pride that would become a recurring theme in his works as well as become a staple in the Harlem Renaissance movement. During Hughes’ prominence in the 20’s, America was as prejudiced as ever and the African-American sense of pride and identity throughout the U.S. was at an all time low. Hughes took note of this and made it a common theme to put “the everyday black man” in most of his stories as well as using traditional “negro dialect” to better represent his African-American brethren. Also, at this time Hughes had major disagreements with members of the black middle class, such as W.E.B. DuBois for trying to assimilate and promote more european values and culture, whereas Hughes believed in holding fast to the traditions of the African-American people and avoid having their heritage be whitewashed by black intellectuals.
The "Langston Hughes" Poets.org. Academy of American Poets, n.d. Web. The Web. The Web. 03 Dec. 2013.
During the 1920's and 30’s, America went through a period of astonishing artistic creativity, the majority of which was concentrated in one neighborhood of New York City, Harlem. The creators of this period of growth in the arts were African-American writers and other artists. Langston Hughes is considered to be one of the most influential writers of the period know as the Harlem Renaissance. With the use of blues and jazz Hughes managed to express a range of different themes all revolving around the Negro. He played a major role in the Harlem Renaissance, helping to create and express black culture. He also wrote of political views and ideas, racial inequality and his opinion on religion. I believe that Langston Hughes’ poetry helps to capture the era know as the Harlem Renaissance.
Langston Hughes was probably the most well-known literary force during the Harlem Renaissance. He was one of the first known black artists to stress a need for his contemporaries to embrace the black jazz culture of the 1920s, as well as the cultural roots in Africa and not-so-distant memory of enslavement in the United States. In formal aspects, Hughes was innovative in that other writers of the Harlem Renaissance stuck with existing literary conventions, while Hughes wrote several poems and stories inspired by the improvised, oral traditions of black culture (Baym, 2221). Proud of his cultural identity, but saddened and angry about racial injustice, the content of much of Hughes’ work is filled with conflict between simply doing as one is told as a black member of society and standing up for injustice and being proud of one’s identity. This relates to a common theme in many of Hughes’ poems that dignity is something that has to be fought for by those who are held back by segregation, poverty, and racial bigotry. The poems “Visitors to the Black Belt”, “Note on Commercial Theatre”, “Democracy”, and “Theme for English B” by Hughes all illustrate the theme of staying true to one’s cultural identity and refusing to compromise it despite the constant daily struggle it meant to be black in an Anglo centric society.
The Collection Poems of Langston Hughes, Rapersad, A. & Roessel, D. ( Eds.) (1995) , New York, Vintage Books
“Harlem” by Langston Hughes opened the doors to African American art. Throughout history, there has been a lot of issues with racial inequality. During the Harlem Renaissance, many African Americans wanted to prove they were just as intelligent, creative, and talented as white Americans. Langston Hughes was one of the people who played an influential part in the Harlem Renaissance. His poem “Harlem” painted a very vivid picture of his life and his outlook on the society he lived in.
Thesis: The poems “Negro”, “I Too”, and “Song for a Dark Girl” by Langston Hughes was written around an era of civil inequality. A time when segregation was a customary thing and every African American persevered through civil prejudice. Using his experience, he focuses his poems on racial and economic inequality. Based on his biographical information, he uses conflict to illustrate the setting by talking about hardships only a Negro would comprehend and pride only a Negro can experience, which helps maintain his racial inequality theme.
.Langston Hughes wrote the poem “Negro” in 1922. After emancipation, African Americans tried to locate a protected place to embrace music, liberal arts, and theater.African Americans found this in Harlem and used their artistic skills to press for racial equality. This poem is meant to illustrate the presence of blacks throughout history, highlight their global contributions, and illuminate their sufferings.
Hughes, a.k.a. Langston, a.k.a. The "Harlem". The [1951] Literature. 5th ed.