A TALE OF SLAVERY THROUGH HUGHES’ POETRY

Abstract

Langston Hughes shows the hard times of African American children when they
had to go through all that racism, discrimination and hatred and has also tried his best to
give a voice to their claim. Hughes presents the miserable condition of the negros by
expressing his genuine emotions and says that it is not just the white man who is
American. I am also an American and in fact we all are American. Hughes has compared
life to a journey. Being fully aware of the suffering of his people, the poet rejects the Jim
Crow America in order to highlight its ugly face. He wants whites to view blacks as both
black and American, not just black. He just wants blacks not to be afraid to express
themselves as they really are. But in spite of having bitter experiences because of racial
discriminations he never loses his heart or he never hates whites.