Tag Archives: Langston Hughes

Hughes Dreams the Real American Dream

By Robin Bates | Published: February 12, 2017

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

By Robin Bates | Published: February 1, 2017

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

By Robin Bates | Published: October 26, 2016

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.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "I Look at the World", Donald Trump, walls | Comments closed

Black Lives Mattered to Langston Hughes

By Robin Bates | Published: September 22, 2016

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?

By Robin Bates | Published: May 5, 2015

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)

By Robin Bates | Published: March 25, 2014

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

By Robin Bates | Published: December 2, 2013

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

By Robin Bates | Published: February 20, 2013

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

Elated? Depressed? This Lit’s for You

By Robin Bates | Published: November 7, 2012

Lit to caution election night winners and bolster election night losers.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "Mother to Son", "War Song of Dinas Vawr", Barack Obama, Election 2012, Everything that Rises Must Converge, Flannery O'Connor, Flies, If, Jean Paul Sartre, Martin Dressler, Mitt Romney, politics, Rudyard Kipling, Steven Milhauser, Thomas Love Peacock | Comments closed