A significant poem by Claude McKay’s "If We Must Die"‚ he was a Jamaican-American author who advocated black self-determination and believed that African-Americans should rely on themselves to become independent and free. He was born on September 15‚ 1889‚ and died on May 22‚ 1948. McKay’s poem presents a significant material in comparing and contrast a good impression of his belief. And also my point of view and my personal experiences on his poem’s "If We Must Die". Throughout the poem‚ he states
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The captivating true words of writers Claude McKay‚ James Weldon‚ and Jean Toomer resemble the atrocious events of the past couple months of the multiple homicidal murders and brutality by law enforcement against African Americans. Nothing is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and stupidity. The year of 1619 was the beginning of slavery in our country by the Europeans and did not end until 1865 ‚ and it wasn’t until almost fifty years later in 1913 that a white man was finally persecuted and
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Give Up “Mother to Son” by Langston Hughes is a well-known piece written during the Harlem Renaissance. In this poem‚ Hughes uses a mother-figure as a narrator. She is speaking to her son and telling him about her life. She has had a rough life but has persevered to this point and plans on continuing that. She tells her son to never give up and to keep going even when it’s hard. The overall tone of this poem is one of hope and perseverance. When Hughes’ narrator says “Don’t you set down on
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Langston Hughes and the Harlem Renaissance Harlem Renaissance was undoubtedly a cultural and social-political movement for the African American race. The Renaissance was many things to people‚ but it is best described as a cultural movement in which the high level of black artistic cultural production‚ demanded and received recognition. Many African American writers‚ musicians‚ poets‚ and leaders were able to express their creativity in many ways in response to their social condition. Until the
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Langston Hughes’s poem‚ “Cross”‚ focuses on the conflict of segregation of races that occurred in the United States. The poem is in the first person point of view‚ in which‚ the narrator reflects on himself as a young child‚ as he reaches the adult life. In the short three stanza poem‚ the speaker summarizes his obstacles in life that were caused by his family. The poem begins as the narrator describes the ethnicity of his parents “My old man’s a white old man and my old mother’s black” (line 1-2)
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At the beginning of the poem‚ Hughes lists all the people that were struggling and being oppressed at the time the poem was written. He points out the poor‚ the blacks that still bare the scares of slavery‚ the red man driven from his home‚ and the immigrant clutching to hope. He reconciles them with the opening plea by saying‚ “America will be!” This is saying that they still had hope. Hughes probably had different responses to his poem back in 1938. Poor blacks would have agreed and sympathized
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The work of Langston Hughes impacted many‚ so much so that people felt it was important to continue on his legacy years after his death. The Langston Hughes Society is an example of a group who works to preserve his legacy through presentations‚ events‚ and speakers who have felt a connection to Hughes’ work. This group of scholars teachers‚ creative writers‚ and performing artists strive to raise awareness about the work he has done (“Society”). The conception of this society traces back to as early
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Langston Hughes poem titled “Dream Deferred” is a poetic masterpiece explaining how delaying our dreams we only result in them diminishing or getting lost overall. Langston Hughes was is an African-American poet and social activist who was born on February 1st in the early 1900s (1902). Growing up and eventually becoming a social activist in New York. Langston Hughes was a subject of racism and being told “no” for him living in the years before the 1960s were racism was some what tolerated in America
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through heritage‚ tradition‚ and folk traditions. Langston Hughes to me has been nourishing the black sensibility and inspiring it to create Afro American literation and transforming it into a “literature of struggle.” The poetry of Langston Hughes has the theme of “ I‚ too sing America” He made extraordinary contributions to American literature and has came to be regarded as a leading voice in the Renaissance of the arts in the 1920’s. Hughes growing up asked the same question to himself of
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James Mercer Langston Hughes was a very important American poet who was born in Joplin‚ Missouri on February 1‚ 1902. Langston Hughes was the very first black writer to earn a living off of poetry. Langston Hughes’ parents divorced when he was a child so he was raised by his grandmother‚ Mary. When he was thirteen his grandmother passed away so he moved to Lincoln‚ Illinois to stay with his mother were he would be taught to write poetry. Langston submitted several poems but he would be frequently
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