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Langston HughesA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
“Harlem” is influenced by the Harlem Renaissance, an artistic movement from the early 20th century. The Great Migration of African Americans from the segregated South to Northern cities like New York made Harlem a center of Black culture in the 1920s. The neighborhood drew musicians, visual artists, dancers, actors, and writers. Creators participating in the Harlem Renaissance were determined to create a uniquely Black art that would be acknowledged as equal to any other tradition. Poets like Claude McKay and Countee Cullen wrote in European forms like sonnets or used the style of the English Romantics of the early 19th century to communicate their experiences. Others created hybrid texts, played with dialect, and took inspiration from African American music.
Langston Hughes was a central figure in the movement. His first published poem “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” appeared in The Crisis, the official magazine of the NAACP, run by the influential editor W.E.B. Du Bois. Hughes went on to achieve artistic and financial success and supported the community through years of mentorship.
“Harlem” was written decades after the movement dissipated, but its musicality and engagement with the one of the key philosophical questions of Black American life are rooted in this movement.
By Langston Hughes
Children’s Rhymes
Children’s Rhymes
Langston Hughes
Cora Unashamed
Cora Unashamed
Langston Hughes
Dreams
Dreams
Langston Hughes
I look at the world
I look at the world
Langston Hughes
I, Too
I, Too
Langston Hughes
Let America Be America Again
Let America Be America Again
Langston Hughes
Me and the Mule
Me and the Mule
Langston Hughes
Mother to Son
Mother to Son
Langston Hughes
Mulatto
Mulatto
Langston Hughes
Mule Bone: A Comedy of Negro Life
Mule Bone: A Comedy of Negro Life
Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston
Not Without Laughter
Not Without Laughter
Langston Hughes
Slave on the Block
Slave on the Block
Langston Hughes
Thank You, M'am
Thank You, M'am
Langston Hughes
The Big Sea
The Big Sea
Langston Hughes
Theme for English B
Theme for English B
Langston Hughes
The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain
The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain
Langston Hughes
The Negro Speaks of Rivers
The Negro Speaks of Rivers
Langston Hughes
The Ways of White Folks
The Ways of White Folks
Langston Hughes
The Weary Blues
The Weary Blues
Langston Hughes
Tired
Tired
Langston Hughes
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