Introduction
The Harlem Renaissance remains a significant age in the life of African American artists. It gave them pride and leverage over their talents and capabilities to promote Africa. This was the golden age that established a favorable environment for African American artists like Langston Hughes to emerge with his most recognized essay, “The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain” (Mahmood and Majeed 68). This essay remains among the most critical messages to black Americans that emerged in the 1920s, promoting the African culture as it laid the primary foundation to support African Americans in embracing their cultures rather than conforming to white standards while forgetting their primary roots.
While the message in “The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain” became an integral piece that gave Africans power in the 1920s to even form civil rights movements that fought for their rights, its relevancy to the current system still resonates. This paper focuses on identifying how Hughes’s messages in “The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain” remains relevant in the artistic works of African Americans. While doing so, the analysis examines how individual Langston Hughes’s poems align with the ideas he expresses in “The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain” to understand which poem relates closely with his views. Through this lens, the paper explores the importance of being culturally conscious in artistic expression by analyzing Hughes’ message of accepting one’s cultural heritage in creating meaningful art.
The Relationship Between Langston Hughes’ ‘The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain’ and His Poems
The Most Related Poem
The poem most consistent with the views expressed in “The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain” is “The Negro Speaks of Rivers.” In the poem, Hughes argues that African Americans have a long history of cultural characteristics that make them unique. While doing this, he uses imagery, connecting a river with the Africans in history. This is why he emphasizes that this is a “river” that is “ancient and older as the world” (Hughes, The Negro Speaks of Rivers).
He also stresses that this river is older than human blood or vein (Hughes, The Negro Speaks of Rivers). In such an illustration, Hughes recognizes and celebrates the black people’s history and cultural values undermined by the intense need to promote white superiority. He pinpoints how Africans, though hampered by the whites in power, have survived and thrived on maintaining their rich culture.
Additionally, Hughes uses the imagery of how African Americans have survived mistreatment to appear in society’s limelight. In this light, Hughes speaks of the “souls of black folks” who have “built their homes” by the rivers (The Negro Speaks of Rivers). This was his means of portraying Africans’ connection to their roots, highlighting the significance of where they came from and linking it to the current state of their lives on American soil. This imagery offers a viable view of the strengths and adaptation of African culture, even in the face of humiliation and despair.
Hughes’ poem also pinpoints the interconnectedness of the African American experience with the rest of the world. As he illustrates the river’s interconnection to its origin, Hughes tries to link the black’s history to the root of humans (The Negro Speaks of Rivers). At the same time, Hughes includes other civilizations of other cultures in the poem’s lyrics. This provides recognition and demonstrations of the Euphrates, Congo, and Nile rivers in the poem.
These illustrations highlight the multifaceted and interconnected African cultures and civilizations. They emerged alongside rivers and have become part of the larger society that portrays a significant sense of the cultural system. This sheds light on the minds and understandings of people towards African cultures. African Americans suffered at the hands of white supremacists, and most of their sufferings were tied to the norm that their culture and values were worthless.
However, Hughes’s poem changed this mindset. He provided a substantial demonstration of their roots and areas of origin, including how they have developed over time to become part of a large group with potential value to be respected. In this sense, the life and struggles of African Americans are not just their sole problems but part of a global issue that requires extensive analysis and consideration to overcome.
The views and expressions of African culture and its importance shown in “The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain” also come clear in Hughes’s other poems. In the poem “I, Too,” Hughes sticks to the notion of keeping and resonating with African culture as it stands a chance to be part of the global limelight.
In this poem, Hughes also emphasizes the need to treat each other equally and present equal opportunities to everyone without prejudices of color and race (I, Too). Failing to do that, Hughes suggests, will force the world to turn their attention to the oppressors and call for a movement that will help minority groups also to have a voice in countries around the globe (I, Too). This is why he mentioned that African Americans would be associated with second-class citizens’ classification, but not for a long time before things changed to give the black community a voice to be treated equally and granted similar opportunities to develop and grow.
Moreover, Hughes’s poem “Harlem” illustrates how African Americans were frustrated with Western culture’s adverse practices that threatened their deeply ingrained cultural instincts and characteristics. They felt the pain and overwhelming impacts of being forced to live the lives and cultures of others while ignoring the norms that define African originality. Through this lens, the poem also urges individuals to understand their culture’s power and promote it to future generations.
The Least Related Poem
The poem that is least consistent with the ideas in “The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain” is “Theme for English B.” The poem focuses on the life of an individual, a young black student who struggles to find himself during chaos between two different cultures, white standards, and African values (Hughes, The Negro Artist, and the Racial Mountain). The poem revolves around a young student’s struggles while trying to conform to his culture and being expected to abide by white bars and a way of life. As he was given an essay to show his life, experiences, and feelings, he was at a divided point where he could not focus on one side. His experiences and feelings were divided, as one side took the white way of life and the integrated policies that defined black lives.
Contrastingly, part of his feelings and experiences were building his purpose on his African roots’ values and norms. While all these illustrations emphasize the overwhelming challenges that black Americans face in the U.S., it does not apply to the contributions to Hughes’s message “The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain,” which recognizes and embraces African cultures. The poem “Theme for English B.” does not suggest a particular culture and societal system that the young student should embrace. Instead, it pinpoints the two cultures and the significant impacts of being stacked between them.
Conclusion
Langston Hughes’ poetry reflects the ideas expressed in “The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain.” In most poems identified throughout the paper, Hughes emphasizes the need to embrace and celebrate the African culture despite the significant challenges they face as black Americans (The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain). Hughes uses this essay as a fundamental message that can help African American artists focus their art on promoting their African heritage and culture instead of trying to conform to the white way of life.
In this regard, his illustrations show that Africans will lose their cultural value and submit entirely to the norms of the whites. However, embracing African ethnicity and practices provides a viable way to regain a sense of normalcy and promote African values. Similarly, his other poems, including “The Negro Speaks of Rivers,” “I, Too,“ and “Harlem,“ reinforces this message as they also recognize the impeding need to be identified with African American ethnicity and cultural norms among black artists to resonate these values to the entire world.
However, the analysis has also identified a poem unrelated to this notion of embracing and supporting African culture. In the poem “Theme for English B,“ Hughes only highlights the overwhelming life experiences of African Americans, focusing on the conflict of interest as one gets mixed feelings about white norms and African values. However, Hughes’s primary message, as shown in “The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain“ and other related poems, comes out clear, echoing the struggles and aspirations of African Americans to stand firm for their rights, justice, and equal opportunities in the global environments.
Works Cited
Hughes, Langston. “I, Too.” Poetry Foundation, Poetry Foundation, 1926. Web.
—. “The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain.” The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain, 1926. Web.
—. “The Negro Speaks of Rivers.” Poetry Foundation, 1921. Web.
Mahmood, Snoor Ismael, and Media Rafiq Majeed. “Critical Discourse Analysis of Figurative Language in the Selected Poems by Langston Hughes.” English Language and Culture Conference, 2019, pp. 1–6. Web.