Essay Database

History in Langston Hughes's "Negro" The topic of Langston Hughes's "Negro" deals with an extremely general description of the history of African Americans or blacks from the pre-1922 era until 1922. Hughes lets the reader know about historic experiences of blacks to show us the impact that blacks have had in past eras. He touches on past, historical events, like the days of "Caesar" and the "Belgians...in the Congo" (5 and 15). The murderous oppression that Hughes …

… explaining. However, we experience the uncommonly true fear faced in the 1920s. Hughes shows us that there is more than one way to explain matters. He seduced us into thinking "Negro" was about being labeled, yet surprising us in the end uncovering the ongoing lynching of blacks in the South (16). Hughes made it a point not to unveil what he really wanted us to see until he gave us a brief lesson in history.