The Negro Artist And The Racial Mountain - 878 Words

Although Langston Hughes’ stories and essays were written almost 100 years ago, their messages are still relevant today. In his short pieces, â€Å"Who’s Passing for Who?† and â€Å"The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain,† he describes the social and economic disconnect between white and black Americans that he observed and experienced throughout his life. Both essays highlight the strong feeling of â€Å"otherness† that black culture felt—there is a clear divide between black and white cultures. â€Å"Who’s Passing for Who?† tells the story of a white couple who are pretending to be part black in an attempt to experience an authentic night out in Harlem. â€Å"The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain† illuminates the internalized racism black people experience as a result of their pressure to conform to the standards of a white-driven culture. Both â€Å"Who’s Passing for Who?† and â€Å"The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain† reflect white culture’s continuous appropriation of black culture and the effects this has on the black community. Both pieces emphasize the social hierarchy in place in America that historically and presently continues to keep black people at the bottom and white people in control. White people believe they are the norm and treat the black community as â€Å"others†Ã¢â‚¬â€which then creates feelings of internalized racism in the black community. In â€Å"Who’s Passing†, the white couple’s treatment towards the black artists highlights this mentality. Upon meeting them, they act as though theyShow MoreRelatedThe Negro Artist And The Racial Mountain873 Words   |  4 Pagesâ€Å"The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain† (1926) The article â€Å"The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain† by Hughes (1926), the author shows a situation that the African Americans felt underestimated for being black and attempted to embrace whites’ culture. This was because white people looked down on them during that era. He shows this by expressing his disappointment with a statement made by one of the most promising of the young Negro poets who says that, â€Å"I want to be a poet not a Negro poet,†Read MoreThe Negro Artist And The Racial Mountain : The Manifesto For Artists Of The Harlem Renaissance1787 Words   |  8 PagesBowen 7 Sunteasja Bowen Harlem Renaissance Dr. Bracks 2 March 2017 The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain: The Manifesto for Artists of the Harlem Renaissance ​The Norton Anthology of African American Literature suggests that the Harlem Renaissance was the â€Å"irresistible impulse of blacks to create boldly expressive art of a high quality as a primary response to their social conditions, as an affirmation of their dignity and humanity in the face of poverty and racism† (953). The Harlem RenaissanceRead MoreChallenges in The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain by Langston Hughes2027 Words   |  8 Pages In the words taken from the essay â€Å"The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain,† Langston Hughes offers insightful statements that verge on the boundary of being, in a sense, challenges. He is directly confronting the implicit wariness of social stratification in that he dismisses the societal need for humans to conform and to adopt personalities and views for themselves that are significantly molded by the outside world. Langston Hughes is saying that humans, no matter their circumstance or originRead MoreAnalysis Of Langston Hughes s The Negro Artist And The Racial Mountain ``1075 Words   |  5 PagesDuring the Harlem Renaissance emerging artists sought to redefine the image of African Americans through their works to counter misconceived stigma which included perhaps most importantly, the ill-founded scientific belief that they were incapable of creative expression. Consequently, the space of Harlem invited opportunity for collaboration and publishing while simultan eously establishing the ideal era for artists to fight for the unification and acceptance of black identity. Therefore, in thisRead MoreAnalysis Of Langston Hughes Poem, The Negro Artist And The Racial Mountain Essay1402 Words   |  6 Pagescanon of poetry, especially those influenced by different racial and ethnic backgrounds. To demonstrate my point, in this essay I shall be discussing in detail Langston Hughes and his piece Poem and why it should be included in the Norton Anthology of Poetry. I will contrast and compare it with Christina Rossetti’s Remember, and back up my arguments with selected quotes from Langston Hughes’ essay ‘The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain’. To begin, Langston Hughes’ ‘Poem’ is an example of howRead MoreThe Negro And The Racial Mountain976 Words   |  4 Pagesnotable poems, plays, and novels, Hughes also wrote essays such as The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain which Hughes gives insight into the minds of middle-class and upper-class Negroes. Prior to reading this essay, I never heard of, nor did I know, Langston Hughes composed essays, much less an essay that outwardly depicts aspects of life that most are accustomed to and see nothing wrong with. The Negro and the Racial Mountain formulated this view that Langston Hughes was more than a poet who wroteRead MoreThe Negro Speaks Of Rivers1548 Words   |  7 Pagesintroduced him to the poetry of Carl Sandburg and Walt Whitman, both whom Hughes would later cite as primary influences. By the time Hughes was enrolled at Columbia University in New York, he had already launched his literary career with his poem â€Å"The Negro Speaks of Rivers† in the Crisis, edited by W.E.B. DuBois. He also committed himself to writing mainly about African Americans. Leaving Columbia in 1922, Hughes spent the next three years in a succession of menial jobs and traveling abroad. He returnedRead MoreWhat Is The Negro s Racial Identity?940 Words   |  4 PagesNegro’s Racial Identity? Racial identity growth has speedily increased and reshaped during the Harlem Renaissance as some blacks writers were coming to terms with the fact that there some differences among the black community. Two writers created their own personal translation concerning the Negro in the course of these years. In Alain Locke’s essay, The New Negro, he presents the variation of the â€Å"new† and â€Å"old† Negro. On the other hand Langston Hughes essay, The Negro Artist and the Racial MountainRead MoreLangston Hughes : The Face Of Harlem Literacy1147 Words   |  5 Pagesthe time. However, Hughes has been recorded stating that the inability of black artist or artistry from black Americans were never popular because of the lack of originality the artwork had (Leach 36). He believed black art was so unsuccessful in America because of its lack of originality and distance from the artist. In his essay â€Å"The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain† he expresses his ideas on the black artist. Langston Hughes was brought up by his grandmother, Mary Langston, in Joplin, MissouriRead MoreContributions Of Langston Hughes948 Words   |  4 Pageschance to show what they can do, and many were interested in art music, and literature. African-Americans had amazing talents in all fields: composers, poets, journalists and artists. This gave Africa-Americans the opportunity to express themselves, their thoughts, and their talents. Langston Hughes used his talent to change the racial boundaries of the American society, and he became an important figure in the fight for equal rights. Langston Hughes wanted African- Americans to have pride in being black