Racial Inequality in 'Harlem' by Langston Hughes

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“Harlem” by Langston Hughes opened the doors to African American art. Throughout history there has been a lot of issues with racial inequality. During the Harlem Renaissance, many African Americans wanted to prove they were just as intelligent, creative, and talented as white Americans. Langston Hughes was one of the people who played an influential part in the Harlem Renaissance; his poem “Harlem” painted a very vivid picture of his life and his outlook in the society he lived in.
The Harlem Renaissance was one of the events in history that created a movement for Blacks in the United States. Even though it did not create such a huge effect during the time, it was a stepping stone for African Americans to show their creativity. Many people
One of the most successful poets in this time was Langston Hughes. “Harlem” was one of Hughes’s popular poems during the 1950’s. The poem itself is short in length, but it has a lot of meaning behind it. During this time Hughes wanted to make a difference in poetry. He did not want to be labeled as the young man only speaking to African Americans. He wanted everyone to understand his great works, regardless of color. The poem “Harlem” itself mainly talks about the dreams being wasted being African American, but on the contrary Langston was fortunate all his life. Not all African American were poor and homeless, but some lived very nice lifestyles. Generally, Langston was never part of the struggle during this time. His family were considered middle class and they never went through hardships like the poem “Harlem” seems to be. Both his mother and father had well-paying jobs that supported him and his siblings. Although he was fortune as an African American child, he understood what African
He felt a part of the black community, because he was surrounded by mostly black his whole life. His had Native American, White American and African American mixed in his bloodline, but after the separation of his parent his lived with his African American grandmother. He had to deal with a lot growing up with his family being torn apart and also being a biracial child. He felt as though he was too white to be with African Americans, but too black to be with Caucasians. Due to this miscegenation, he wrote the poem “Cross”, which was dealing with his multiracial family (69). Overall, he had a very lonesome childhood. Regardless of his skin tone, he was still an African American and wanted express his pain in the poem

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