The Negro Artist And The Racial Mountain, By Langston Hughes

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Recommended: American Negro Poetry

As a poet who paved the way for African American artists to flourish in a white dominated world, Langston Hughes changed the face of writers during the era of the Harlem Renaissance. Hughes is the descendant of a mixed race and background, but he is considered the father of the “New Negro Movement.” His most noted piece of literature, “The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain,” which was written in 1926, still applies to the youth and elderly of Blacks in America. As a young black woman in America’s 21st century, the realization has been made that not many things have changed in regards to the plight of the “Negro” in America. William Pickens said, “The new Negro is not really new; he is the same Negro under new conditions and subjected to new demands” (79). This quote claims that the Negro is neither new nor old but constantly evolving based upon new situations and predicaments. “The Negro Artists and the Racial Mountain” supports the statement that Black Americans are continuously scrutinized for assimilating into Western culture but are praised for embracing Pan-Africanism.
Hughes was an integral part of the cultural movement known as the Harlem Renaissance. He had been attracted to New York City because of the changes that were being to occur. In “The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain,” Hughes portrays the Negro middle class as the “respected folk” that are smug (Hughes). This type of Negro lives a comfortable life where the children attend a mixed school. Hughes attacks this middle class family in particular because he believes that they would rather be Caucasian instead of African American (Hughes). The high class Negro separates himself from the poorer blacks because he reads white magazines, strives to have t...

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...atre. He highlights the roles of Blacks as well as the different types of “Negros” such as the “Nordic Negro” and the “Old Negro.” Locke stated that, “The American mind must reckon with a fundamentally changed Negro” (115). Intelligent and socially conscious, the New Negro identity is constantly under pressure and watched closely by society. New Negro culture should stretch further than Harlem, New York. It should reach the mountains and the valleys and touch all people, for America was built on the backs of slaves and American History is African American History as well. The racial mountain that stands before any person who considers themselves black is history. Instead of assimilating into white culture, Hughes supports the claim to build black culture from what remains. The racial mountain must be climbed and conquered to advance as a people in society.

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