During the early 20th century, the Harlem Renaissance helped nurture a growing awakening in Black society about the uniqueness of their culture. The Harlem Renaissance focused on the question of “What does it truly mean to be black?”; such lines of thinking helped produce longstanding political, artistic, social, and cultural changes to our society. To this day, ideas that started to be discussed during the Harlem Renaissance, such as institutional racism, black identity, and blacks’ transition from slavery into modern society are still discussed to this day. Often, discussions on such topics transcended their respective bubbles to become more general questions around what it means to be an American or a woman. Langston Hughes was one of the primary writers in the Harlem Renaissance. Using his unique method of combining folk culture with formal poetry, Hughes was able to effectively convey experiences of black life and justify his cause for black justice and an end to oppression. Much of his work criticized blacks who were too obsessed with replicating a white lifestyle and thus leaving behind their unique Black traditions. At the same time, some of his contemporaries felt that his work focused too much on Black themes, conversely, others said he focused too little on the ‘Black experience’. Hughes’ focus on diction, meter, structure and symbols helped shape a narrative for his audience about the need for equality and to convey to his audience his own personal feelings about the current state of America.
Langston Hughes and the Harlem Renaissance
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