1. Langston Hughes The unrelenting rebel in a culture against his race… Tyler Lahey, Fabian Bock, Lorenz Ekerdt 1902-1967

2. The Life Story Elected class poet in grammar school by white classmates-started poetry, they assumed African Americans could rhyme He spent time with his father who endured racism- Langston contemplated suicide His father left for Mexico because he was angry about racism Left Columbia University because of racial prejudice His main home was Harlem Visited Russia and sported Communist views

3. Langston Hughes Lived before time of African American equality He is ahead of his time- uses his skills to express feelings of segregation hatred in a period where no African Americans dared to speak up. America is referred to as segregated and NOT a "Land of Opportunity" Received with anger in his time, now a respected poet

4. Themes in Hughes Poems Jazz-the music of his time and life Equality- experienced life full of prejudice Harlem- his home for many years ex=“Harlem” the poem “I, too, sing America.” “I am the darker brother. They send me to eat in the kitchen When company comes,”

5. Consistencies in Hughes’s Poetry Relevant to His Past Struggle for equality- African American culture Hope- Justice- “America was never America to me.” Pain Short, effective pieces

6. Consistencies of Lit. Devices Relevant to his Beliefs Some rhyming-he gets to the point, no attempts at making the poem sound nice Some metaphors-only when they aid in meaning Either very serious or very carefree He likes to make points-his position in society influences this

7. A poet’s words have deeper meaning… Hughes contemplated suicide- sinking, death, a river in his poems “Suicide’s Note”. As a child his family underwent racial discrimination- struggle for equality in poems- “Let America be America Again” Lived in Harlem- writes about African American culture- “Jazzonia” Lived in a world where his culture and race were undermined- effects poems No marriage- few love poems Writes about controversial topics- not Christmas trees like E.E Cummings

8. Literary Criticism We Felt Relevant “Sad, Touching” “Oppression” “Theme- negro's quiet resistance to white oppression”= “Let America Be America Again” “Often very musical; jazz” Ex= “Jazzonia” “Make a drumbeat, Put it on a record, let it whirl.”

9. Criticism That Doesn’t Deserve to Be There “Hughes an artist who does not stand in his own light”- Yes he is; he impacts and influences readers with controversial topics “Not serious”- Many poems very serious, many about equality and race- “Justice” “Creates only impressions”- Hughes has writing so prolific for the time he could change thoughts

10. Poems That Reflect Criticism

11. Justice “That Justice is a blind goddess Is a thing to which we black are wise: Her bandage hides two festering sores That once perhaps were eyes.” Represents all he stands for- Racial equality