There’s a marked contrast between the nobility people claim for the Confederate statues and the young men swarming around them. Langston Hughes understood the contrast in his darkly humorous “Ku Klux.”
Tag Archives: Langston Hughes
Do You Believe in the Great White Race?
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Ku Klux", Confederate statues, Donald Trump, KKK, racism, which supremacy Comments closed
Hughes Dreams the Real American Dream
Langston Hughes’s “Let America Be America Again” is a powerful riposte to President Steven Bannon and Co.’s “Make America Great Again.” Poems like this one can play an important role in resistance against the Trump administration.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Let America Be America Again", Donald Trump, Make America Great Again, Michael Anton, racism, Steve Bannon, Trumpist, white nationalism Comments closed
Read Poetry To Keep Hope Alive
Literature that just shows us the grim truth of reality without the possibility of hope calls into question the whole enterprise. Much great literature frames reality in such a way that we can see new possibilities for ourselves.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Some Keep the Sabbath Going to Church", "Speech to the Young", Audre Lorde, Emily Dickinson, Gwendolyn Brooks, racism Comments closed
Oppression’s Walls Will Have To Go
Langston Hughes’s poem “I Look at the World” describes a coming to consciousness of the walls that fence us in. Once we acknowledge the walls, we can begin seeing our way through them.
Black Lives Mattered to Langston Hughes
Following two more shootings of unarmed black men, the New York Times devoted a full page to Langston Hughes’s powerful poem “I, Too.” Meanwhile, his poem “Harlem” provides an explanation for the riots in Charlotte.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Harlem", "I, Charlotte rioting, Keith Lamont Scott, police shootings, Terence Crutcher, Too" Comments closed
What Happens to a Dream Deferred?
Langston Hughes puts his finger on Baltimore’s black anger in “Justice” and “Harlem.”
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Harlem", Baltimore, Baltimore protests, Freddy Gray, Justice, Marilyn Mosby Comments closed
Top 10 Parent-Child Classics (Positive)
A top ten list of classics with positive depictions of parent-child relationships.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Mother to Son", Charles Dickens, David Copperfield, Francis Hodgson Burnett, George Eliot, Golden Bowl, Harper Lee, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Henry Fielding, Henry James, Huckleberry Finn, Little Lord Fauntleroy, Mark Twain, Parent-child relationships, Silas Marner, Tempest, To Kill a Mockingbird, Tom Jones, Uncle Tom's Cabin, William Shakespeare Comments closed
Life for the Poor Is No Crystal Stair
NYT columnist Charles Blow appears to be channeling Langston Hughes as he gives advice to the poor.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Mother to Son", Charles Blow, food stamp cuts, Obamacare, poverty Comments closed
Langston Hughes, Profound Conversations
Langston Hughes’ “Mother to Son” opened up a profound conversation with our building’s housekeeping staff.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Mother to Soon", "Trumpet Player", "Weary Blues", African American community, Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, Waste Land Comments closed
