Langston Hughes Research Langston Hughes (1902-1967) is one of the most influential African-American writers of the 20th century. His poetry represented a significant chapter in American literature. He always wrote about the current events of what is happening to African-Americans in his time. It is because of his original poetry that engraved his name forever in not only African American history, but in American Literature as well. “Through his long career as a professional writer, Hughes remained true to the African American heritage he celebrated in his writings, which were frankly ”racial in theme and treatment, derived from the life I know” (1131 Meyer) .
Instead of preaching that one day the blacks would have equality and preaching wrong, Booker T. Washington preached to them that being equal is not what it is all about. He did this so the blacks would not lose faith and eventually give their hopes up on being equal. They ended up focusing on themselves and their brothers and dealt with the system. They accepted themselves as blacks into this nation. In today's day and age for example, there are people who are still racist, people who don't accept blacks because of their color and culture, but today blacks understand that and accept it.
Malcolm X demonstrated the anger and the struggle, of the African Americans in the 1960s. During his lifetime he influenced many African Americans to stand up for their rights against the injustices set by the American government. Malcolm was criticized for his extremist views and actions while on the other hand he has been praised for his efforts in raising the status for African Americans. The views of Martin Luther King and Malcolm X often collided because of their different methods of fighting for equality. Most of Malcolm X’s views collided with the views of Martin Luther King Jr. King’s philosophy was “turn the other cheek,” meaning violence will not elevate you and bring you closer to your goals.
The tragedy is that the African American suffers from a three dimensional cloth of estrangement, burdening their lives and keeping them in a prison. A prison of seeing themselves the way society views them as a negative stereotype, instead of who they are. Du Bois states we should merge our two sides; the African American side with the rich proud culture we bring and the American side. Society says you must choose one because you are not able to incorporate the two sides into one person, why is African American culture the only culture society dictates to make this chose? Because society forcing the African American to choose, we are forced to question our worth.
When I first read the poems, I noticed how both speakers identified the tremendous challenges all African Americans were confronted with. The speaker of “From the Darker Tower” identifies as someone who endures this struggle as well because he states, “we
The Black Panthers Obviously, one should admit that the issue of Afro-American’s civil rights and their appropriate participation in the social life has been rather sensitive for the USA during almost two centuries. So called Black Nationalism consists of numerous organizations, institutions, and protest activities. The early expressions of Black Nationalism claimed the liberation for the black-skinned population from racial oppression. Generally, this movement can be divided into four large groups: Educational Nationalism, Religious Nationalism, Cultural Nationalism, and Revolutionary Nationalism. The Black Panthers Party is the most active part of Revolutionary Nationalism.
He claims that the American culture has subjected the African Americans to slavery in hard labor and discriminatory treatment for a long time, without ever striving to understand them as human beings. On the other hand, the Old Negro has supported their oppressors by remaining submissive and enduring the oppression while making excuses for this kind of treatment. The idea of this scholar is that the African Americans have suffered for remaining silent and failing to stand out for their rights during the long oppression period. However, the new Negro is incompatible with the old one, as he is more assertive and determined to fight for an equal position in the society. The words of Locke echo the words of Hubert Harrison who initiated the New Negro Movement in 1917 that advocated for political equality in America.
These two African American poets helped inspire other African America individuals to express their culture during the Harlem Renaissance. The first influential African America poet during the Harlem Renaissance was Langston Hughes. He was born in 1902 in Joplin, Missouri. According to the Poetry Foundation, Langston Hughes was known as the leader of the Harlem Renaissance. Langston Hughes style of writing primarily focused on the fact that individuals should celebrate African American
Writers, poets, painters, and musicians joined together to protest in there own way against the quality of life for black folks in the United States. Out of this grew what has been called the “Harlem Renaissance” or the “The Black Renaissance” or “The Black Renaissance” or “The Negro Movement”. But James Johnson informally inaugurated the movement with his publication of Fifty Years and Other Poems. His title poem referred to the fifty years that elapsed since the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation which was suppose to bring first class citizenship to Negroes (Johnson 1968). Other books soon followed with collections of poems, novels written by Claude McKay, Langston Hughes, James Johnson, and
Charles S. Johnson's Opportunity magazine became the leading voice of black culture, and W.E.B. DuBois's journal, The Crisis, with Jessie Redmon Fauset as its literary editor, launched the literary careers of such writers as Arna Bontemps, Langston Hughes, and Countee Cullen (Wintz, Cary D. 1988). Civil Rights Movement The success of African Americans during the Harlem Renaissance helped lay the foundation for the post-World War II phase of the Civil Rights Movement. Moreover, many black artists who rose to creative maturity afterward were inspired by this literary movement. Activists such as Martin Luther King, Jr., and Malcolm X followed some of the principles of people like Marcus Garvey and Hubert Harrison.