The instructor said,
Go home and write
a page tonight.
And let that page come out of you --
Then, it will be true.
I wonder if it's that simple?
I am twenty-two, colored, born in Winston-Salem.
I went to college there, then Durham, then here
to this college on the hill above Harlem.
I am the only colored student in my class.
The steps from the hill lead down into Harlem,
through a park, then I cross St. Nicholas,
Eighth Street, Seventh, and I come to the Y,
the Harlem Branch Y, where I take the elevator
up to my room, sit down, and write this page:
It's not easy to know what is true for you or me
at twenty-two, my age. But I guess I'm what
I feel and see and hear, Harlem, I hear you:
hear you, hear me - we two - you, me, talk on this page.
(I hear New York, too.) Me - who?
Well, I like to eat, sleep, drink, and be in love.
I like to work, read, learn, and understand life.
I like a pipe for a Christmas present,
or records - Bessie, bop, or Bach.
I guess being colored doesn't make me not like
the same things other folks like who are other races.
So will my page be colored that I write?
Being me, it will not be white.
But it will be
a part of you, instructor.
You are white -
yet a part of me, as I am a part of you.
That's American.
Sometimes perhaps you don't want to be a part of me.
Nor do I often want to be a part of you.
But we are, that's true!
I guess you learn from me -
although you're older - and white -
and somewhat more free.
This is my page for English B.
Background Information and Links:
Langston Hughes (1902-1967) was one of the greatest figures of the Harlem Renaissance, an African-American cultural movement during the 1920's. Hughes's poetry absorbed the rhythms of blues and jazz and the dialect of African American speech that he heard around him while living in New York, and after being he met poet Vachel Lindsay, who liked his poems and promoted them. In 1926 Hughes published his first book of poems, The Weary Blues, about Harlem life.
Hughes continued writing through the 1930s and the 1940s, speaking for the poor and homeless black people who suffered during the Great Depression. He wrote of their daily lives in America's cities, of their anger and their loves. Black people loved reading his works and hearing him read his poems at public presentations all over the country. To them he was "Harlem's Poet." When Hughes died in 1967, a jazz band played at his funeral.
Langston Hughes Links:
James Langston Hughes - biographical sketch of the poet.
Longman English Literature - Langston Hughes - including a biography, bibliography, links, and more.
Langston Hughes (1902-1967) - resources for study of the American poet.
African-American History: Roy DeCarava and Langston Hughes - features photographs from the book, The Sweet Flypaper of Life.
Langston Hughes and the Harlem Renaissance - brief biography.
Langston Hughes Tribute - dedicated to the great Harlem Renaissance poet.
Academy of American Poets - Langston Hughes - online exhibit including biographical information, poetry, and a bibliography.
The Langston Hughes Review - Official Publication of The Langston Hughes Society.
Langston Hughes Biography - A brief, general biography of the poet.
Langston Hughes - "The Academy of American Poets presents a biography, photograph, and selected poems."
Langston Hughes and the Harlem Renaissance - A Smithsonian page dealing mainly with Hughes' connection to Harlem.