Harlem, Langston Hughes, and Black Lives
Langston Hughes wrote Harlem in 1951 as part of a series of poems in a book called Montage of a Dream Deferred. This poem, together with the rest of the poems in the anthology, discusses the lives and dreams of the black community in Harlem, as well as the continuing racial injustice that the members of the community went through.
It must be interesting to note that Harlem was the subject of a booming development from approximately 1910 to 1930, a period called the Harlem Renaissance. This period is considered the golden age in African American culture as seen in their literature, music, stage performance and art. In a country with a long history of black slavery, the migration of African Americans to Harlem where they found freedom and prosperity in different aspects is a huge leap towards achieving equality among races. It was around this time that the young Langston Hughes arrived in Harlem and made his career as a writer. In fact he was considered one of the fathers of the Harlem Renaissance.
Two events that led Hughes into writing the collection of poems including Harlem are the 1935 and 1943 Harlem riots; both riots were triggered by discrimination against black people by segregation, rampant unemployment of the African Americans because the black people were usually the first to be fired from their work, and police brutality aimed at the black community. In 1935, a 16-year old black Puerto Rican was caught stealing a small knife and rumors spread among the community that the police had killed the boy, leading to the riot as the people protest against police brutality. In 1943, an African American soldier was shot and wounded by a white police when the black soldier intervened in the white soldier's arrest of an African American woman in Harlem. Similar to the what happened in 1935, rumors spread that the black soldier was killed, resulting to another riot. Both riots ended with several people dead, hundreds wounded and arrested, and many stores, shops and properties were damaged.
These two riots are described by scholars as a symbolism of the death of the Harlem Renaissance. ###
Langston Hughes wrote Harlem in 1951 as part of a series of poems in a book called Montage of a Dream Deferred. This poem, together with the rest of the poems in the anthology, discusses the lives and dreams of the black community in Harlem, as well as the continuing racial injustice that the members of the community went through.
It must be interesting to note that Harlem was the subject of a booming development from approximately 1910 to 1930, a period called the Harlem Renaissance. This period is considered the golden age in African American culture as seen in their literature, music, stage performance and art. In a country with a long history of black slavery, the migration of African Americans to Harlem where they found freedom and prosperity in different aspects is a huge leap towards achieving equality among races. It was around this time that the young Langston Hughes arrived in Harlem and made his career as a writer. In fact he was considered one of the fathers of the Harlem Renaissance.
Two events that led Hughes into writing the collection of poems including Harlem are the 1935 and 1943 Harlem riots; both riots were triggered by discrimination against black people by segregation, rampant unemployment of the African Americans because the black people were usually the first to be fired from their work, and police brutality aimed at the black community. In 1935, a 16-year old black Puerto Rican was caught stealing a small knife and rumors spread among the community that the police had killed the boy, leading to the riot as the people protest against police brutality. In 1943, an African American soldier was shot and wounded by a white police when the black soldier intervened in the white soldier's arrest of an African American woman in Harlem. Similar to the what happened in 1935, rumors spread that the black soldier was killed, resulting to another riot. Both riots ended with several people dead, hundreds wounded and arrested, and many stores, shops and properties were damaged.
These two riots are described by scholars as a symbolism of the death of the Harlem Renaissance. ###
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