50 pages • 1 hour read
Langston HughesA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Reading Check
1. An encounter with another Black poet (Paragraph 1)
2. “This urge within the race toward whiteness” (Paragraph 1)
3. The lower class (Paragraph 4)
4. Bessie Smith/Paul Robeson/Rudolph Fisher/Jean Toomer/Aaron Douglas (Paragraph 14)
Short Answer
1. Hughes interprets that statement to mean that the poet wants to write like and be a white poet, which means, ultimately, that he would like to be white. (Paragraph 1)
2. Hughes believes that the proximity to whiteness in the middle and upper classes causes Black folks in those classes to focus primarily on assimilation rather than embracing their Black culture. Lower-class Black folks, by contrast, are freer to stay closer to their roots and celebrate their Blackness, which better fosters the development of the Black artist. (Paragraphs 2-4)
3. The duty of the young Black artist is to use their art to resist the urge toward whiteness and instill racial pride within the Black community by celebrating Blackness. (Paragraph 12)
4. Fellow Black people might want the Black artist to portray them as respectable and palatable to white people. By contrast, white patrons (who would often pay for this art) might want Black artists to maintain their illusions of Black folks and their place in American society. (Paragraph 9)
By Langston Hughes
Children’s Rhymes
Langston Hughes
Cora Unashamed
Langston Hughes
Dreams
Langston Hughes
Harlem
Langston Hughes
I look at the world
Langston Hughes
I, Too
Langston Hughes
Let America Be America Again
Langston Hughes
Me and the Mule
Langston Hughes
Mother to Son
Langston Hughes
Mulatto
Langston Hughes
Mule Bone: A Comedy of Negro Life
Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston
Not Without Laughter
Langston Hughes
Slave on the Block
Langston Hughes
Thank You, M'am
Langston Hughes
The Big Sea
Langston Hughes
Theme for English B
Langston Hughes
The Negro Speaks of Rivers
Langston Hughes
The Ways of White Folks
Langston Hughes
The Weary Blues
Langston Hughes
Tired
Langston Hughes
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