Steele 1

Nina Steele

Professor Toole

ENC 1102

9 March 2017

A New America

The Harlem Renaissance was an era of growth for African American music, artistry, and

literature which influenced an era of new identity for blacks. Writers during this era included

Langston Hughes strong sense of racial pride helped shape American literature and politics

during this time period. In his works, he promoted the idea of equality and condemned the

injustice treatments his people have faced since the beginning of time Through the use of his

poems about a student, a slave, and a culture as a whole, Hughes was able to tell the story of

oppression and injustice through the use of different diction and situations in his works in order

to express the idea of unity and civil rights and change the way people saw this injustice as a

whole.

Hughes poems uniquely expressed the ideas of civil rights through their different word

choice, which also had affects it had on its readers. "I, Too" and "Theme for English B" are two

of Hughes poems that stand out because of the impact word choice has in the poems. Both poems

express ideas of race and segregation by using first-person however, the way the author uses the

word I is used and connoted differently in order to fulfill Hughes' meaning for the poem. For

example, in I Too, by Hughes saying, I too sing America. I am the darker brother, it paints a

picture of him against the world. Instead of saying we too sing America, we are the darker

brothers, Hughes choice by saying I isolates blacks. When reading the line with we instead

of I, it gives the poem a stronger, more united connotation. In this specific poem which is
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narrated by a slave, "I" seems to be symbolic to African Americans isolation and highlights their

struggles against those who continue to push them.

Similarly to I Too, Theme for English B is also written in first person however, its

use of the word and impact on those who read it is completely different. The I in this poem is

revealed to be a black student when Hughes says, "I am twenty-two, colored, born in Winston-

Salem". This quote connotes strength and singularity. The speaker, an African-American student

given an English writing assignment, engages his teacher in an intelligent, even pointed dialog.

Hughes artistically makes use of the first-person point of view to enhance the effect of the story.

Hughes especially uses his word choice to separate the narrator from his peers and even his

instructor by using I to describe himself and them to describe the others as though they are his

enemy. This in turn made those who read these pieces feel even more segregated than before

which made African Americans rally together in order to fight against those who oppressed them

because of the color of their skin.

In addition to how Hughes utilized word choice in order to express his points, his use of

storytelling in his poetry in order to further express his ideas of civil rights allowed his readers to

resonate with his words even deeper. Theme for English B expresses what being black was

like as a student in post segregated times. Although his class is allowed to have both blacks and

whites, when Hughes says, I am the only colored student in my class, it shows what it felt like

to be an outsider. Slade, who is now a college professor, explains that by having segregated

schools, [t]he discrimination they faced was our gain; they were excellent teachers who inspired

us to go to college and beyond.

Although Hughes does not come out and say whose perspective I Too is told from, it

can be inferred that it is written by an African American slave or a servant. For this reason, this
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poem affects those who read it completely different than Theme for English B. This poem

highlights the wrongdoing of those who had the ability to treat blacks as equals when it says,

[t]heyll see how beautiful I am and be ashamed- I, too, am America (Hughes). This expands

on the fact that although blacks were the darker brother, they were still apart of America.

Hughes poems were very relatable to those living during that time and on because the situation

Hughes describes in the poem reflects a common experience for many African Americans

(Ford). This nation is not divided by color, it is a melting pot and that idea empowered many

people to make a difference on how all people of different races are treated.

Each and every one of Hughes poems used different situations in order to portray what

being black was like in America however, each of them had a profound impact on those who

read them. African Americans determination and fight for what is right can be seen all

throughout the Harlem Renaissance as people read each of Hughes poems and related to them in

a deep way. In the end, although each of Hughes poems expressed what being black was like

during this time period through different settings and circumstances, each of their words and

melodies impacted those who read them and ignited a fire in their souls that resulted in a

revolution that was about to change America forever: The Civil Rights Movement.
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Works Cited

Ford, Karen Jackson. "Do right to write right: Langston Hughes's aesthetics of simplicity."

Twentieth Century Literature, vol. 38, no. 4, 1992, p. 436+. Academic OneFile, Accessed 3 Mar.

2017.

Hughes, L. (1945). I, Too - Poems | Academy of American Poets. Accessed 2 Mar. 2017

Hughes, L. (1945). Theme for English B - Poems | Academy of American Poets. Accessed 2

Mar. 2017

Slade, Leonard A., Jr. "The days before Brown: growing up in segregated schools." Education

Next, vol. 4, no. 4, 2004, p. 84. Academic OneFile, Accessed 1 Mar. 2017.