Langston Hughes Harlem Renaissance

Dhrumi Patel Period:4 Mrs.Blanke Mrs.Hnasko English Lit IV A Research Paper Langston Hughes Influence on the Harlem Renaissance “Democracy” by Langston Hughes was written during the Harlem Renaissance and left a great impact on it. It helped people stay true to their traditions and made people want to fight for their equality. His real name was James Mercer Langston Hughes and was born on February 1, 1902, in Joplin, Missouri. His parents got a divorce when he was a young child.

More than just a Poet Before even graduating from college, Langston Hughes’ name was becoming known around the country for his writing. His first major poem, “The Negro Speaks of Rivers,” written at just seventeen years old, gave way to a forty-year career of popular writings for the author. Known as one of the most iconic African-American writers of his time, Langston Hughes had a major influence on American Literary History. He was known for and as the people’s poet, use of jazz blues, and life experiences.

Langston Hughes is an African-American poet whose poems and short stories are based off of his own experiences as a slave during the early to mid-20th century. Langston Hughes’ most notable poems, “Let America Be America Again”, “I, Too, Sing America”, and “A Dream Deferred”, represent not only Langston Hughes’ viewpoint on segregation and discrimination, but also show how his perspective of Civil Rights changed somewhat throughout the years. As Langston Hughes grew older, his poems became more symbolic, less blunt, and shorter to better represent African Americans’ struggle and strength. The first poem, “Let America Be America Again”, was written in 1935 and is the longest and most direct about its delivery.

After the end of World War I, America entered a new age of cultural and artistic growth. One area in particular, Harlem, New York, became the cornerstone of an African American movement called the Harlem Renaissance. The Harlem Renaissance spanned across all of the arts embracing and presenting African American culture. This movement experienced the beginnings of numerous influential African American writers and works. One of these important writers was Langston Hughes.

The 1920s was a revolutionary decade in the United States as it marked the beginning of an age of consumerism, lifestyle extravagance and the birth of modern African American music and literature. In the 1920s cities like Chicago and New York came into full bloom with the construction of skyscrapers and the migration of millions of African Americans from rural states to major American Cities. Neighborhoods like Harlem became the cultural and artistic epicenter of the decade and most importantly the heart of an intellectual, social and artistic explosion, the Harlem Renaissance. Through this movement, African American music and African American literature became widely welcomed and enjoyed by Americans from different races and social classes.

Langston Hughes was a poet, author, and civil rights movement leader who was born in Missouri, on February 1st, 1902. His most famous piece of work is his poem, “The Negro Speaks of Rivers”. Hughes tells a story throughout the course of his writing, especially in two other poems called “I, Too” and “Refugee in America”. These three poems play hand in hand in figuring out Hughes life journey. His life journey helps people have an understanding about what others went through as well as reflecting on the past and changing it.

“Unification Via Personification: Revisioned Version” Langston Hughes is known as one of the most influential African American poets. He has a large collection of works that still influence African American society today. Hughes contributed towards the Harlem Renaissance, which produced a surge of African American works in the 1920s. In addition, Langston Hughes is also known as one of the most inspiring African American civil rights activists and advocated for African American unity and solidarity.

Student Name Instructor’s Name Class/Subject Name 11 March 2016 Harlem Renaissance Introduction At the end of World War I in 1948 new era began to emerge in which African American culture, art, literature, music and trends in dance began to flourish in Harlem, a district of New York City. It started during 1920s to 1930s and also known as the moments of blacks provided a great opportunity to African Americans to make their voice heard by the world which had been suppressed for a long time.

Langston Hughes was influential in the Harlem Renaissance I’ll even go to the extent of naming him the “father of the movement.” Hughes literary work had a significant impact on African American literature during the Harlem Renaissance. Aside from the movement he brought life to Harlem. Most of his work centered around the neighborhood or make mention of it such as the notable “Harlem (Dream Deferred)”, “Night Funeral in Harlem” to “Theme for English B." Granted, African American Literature has only been a thing before the Harlem Renaissance, Hughes helped and gave prominence to black cultures during that time greatly paving the way for more Black poets and creatives.

In the early twentieth century, the Harlem Renaissance flourished. This movement was an African American cultural awakening, especially in the creative arts. The movement was never controlled by a specific school of thought, however, it was distinguished through discourse and laid the groundwork for later African American literature. Although much of the movement concentrated in the Harlem district of New York City it was not confined there. Many African American musicians, artists, and writers blossomed as instigators for this cultural awakening, like Zora Neale Hurston, Claude McKay, and of course Langston Hughes to name a few (Hutchinson, p.1).