Langston Hughes Democracy: The New Negro Movement

Improved Essays
From the 1920’s to the 1930’s were a time of great social change in America, especially when related to race and racial identity. This time period is known as the New Negro Movement, led by Hubert Harrison, Matthew Kotleski, Alaine Locke, and Wallace Thurman. Artist such as Langston Hughes and Archibald Motley promoted the goals of Black Americans through their artwork. The Great Migration, the movement of about five million Black people from southern America to Northern and Western America from 1915 to 1920, kick-started the modernization of the African-American identity. The motives for this migration were economic, many African-Americans in the South wanted to escape the oppressive economic conditions they faced continuously, and they followed the promise of economic opportunities in the factories of the North and West, opened by World War I (Hist201, 2015). During World War the gap between Black and White America widened, the treatment of African-American soldiers overseas compared to home made many realize how hypocritically the United States is in their “fight for democracy.” Consequently, many of the African-American veterans become conscious about how their race affected them politically and socially in American society (The New Negro). Both of these events combined, ignited spirit needed to start the New Negro Movement. The New Negro Movement was the transformation of the perception of African-Americans in America from ex-slave to having an identity separate from white people; while promoting a renewed sense of racial pride within the Black community that emphasized on cultural expression. Their objective were to create an independent economy for African Americans to increase the number of Black professionals and develop the Black middle class. Their second objective was to end Jim Crow-era laws through the passing of progressive political laws. They advocated for the social justice for Black people and their integration into American society (Hist201, 2015). This movement results in the literary, artistic, intellectual, and sociological movement that began the formation of a new Black cultural identity known as the Harlem Renaissance, this lasted from 1917 to 1935 (Harlem Renaissance). The artworks during this became more orientated on African Americans and their history, common themes were their social struggles in their fight to gain quality and show their resilience, strengths, and intelligence. Subsequently, the self-image of African Americans was enhanced. Many community leaders believed that if White America was exposed to Black culture, the society as a whole will become more enlightened and become more accepting of …show more content…
The speakers represents the shift in mentality Africans Americans had during the Harlem Renaissance and the New Negro Movement, by questioning the fundamentals of American democracy because everyone is not free essentially. They believe that they must fight for their freedom like W.E.B. DuBois advocated for, instead of wait for change to come like Booker T. Washington. The speaker believes that freedom from Jim Crow Laws and segregation will not come through “compromise and fear,” that is the way of the old negro, ex-slave.” The new “negro” symbolizes a person that is outspoken advocate against a white supremacist society. Hughes embodies the ideologies of the New Negro Movement’s need for social justice through the speaker having the courage to challenge the norms of society because they can be victims of violence from white

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Oral History Project: Isaac H. You must go to the second floor; Do you take the stairs or the elevator? The stairs require more effort while the elevator brings one to their destination with less effort. By the first migrants choosing the stairs, it resulted in the next generation having a choice to take the elevator. The first migrants dealt with many hardships and obstacles when they arrived to the North. The risks those migrants took allowed the future generations to go through their experience with migrating with an easier transition.…

    • 1070 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The Great Migration was a massive movement of African Americans from the South of the United States to the North with the largest amount coming in 1915 to 1920 of over 500,000 Blacks. African Americans left the miserable condition of the South that included low wages, racism, and horrible violence, and headed up to “The Promised Land” of the North where it was believed they could find refuge or even start over again. Black Protest and the Great Migration by Eric Arnesen is a history of documents telling the story of the African American searching for equality through the eyes of political leaders, newspapers, and regular civilians of the time between 1916 – 1925. This book teaches how the Great Migration was another source of hope that was…

    • 1169 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Section 1 Question # 2 Between the late 1890’s and late 1920’s, many African Americans struggled for survival and equal prosperity, especially after the effects of the reconstruction period. Many blacks had to live in the rural south, and make a life for themselves through lots of indentures to support both themselves and their families. This time period, was a huge disenfranchisement for blacks being that they had to deal with discriminatory behaviors, social, political and economic disparity, and even problems such as lynching and the eminent KKK. African Americans would not see a rise in racial equality until the late 1960’s.…

    • 1759 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    These works have similarities with expressing their ideas and frustration with African American dreams. The author Hughes expresses in his…

    • 861 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston, authors during the Harlem Renaissance, used their poetry and short stories to challenge ideas about race and the division it caused in America. The narrators in Hughes’ “Theme for English B” and Hurston’s “How It Feels to Be Colored Me” are both in the process of exploring their racial identities, yet while the narrator in Hurston’s story embraces her differences, the speaker in Hughes’ poem is more focused on questioning the aspects that cause him and his white classmates to differ. Nonetheless, Hughes and Hurston both use a common theme of racial identity as well as symbolism and the use of metaphor, to explain the struggle of being African-American in the 20th century. In Hughes’ poem “Theme for…

    • 1376 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Throughout History, African Americans have faced multiple hardships and tough events in their lives that they did not deserve. After slavery and the civil war was over, many African Americans did not have anywhere to go. They had no money, no property, and no way of living. This introduced many of these newly freed people into a horrible life of sharecropping and other hard jobs just so they could survive. Because they could not leave the South, these African Americans faced many forms of racism and segregation, making their lives a living hell. Around 1916, these African Americans finally decided it was time to leave behind this horrid life that was the South and the Great Migration began.…

    • 1025 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Nancy Torres Mrs. Dejong Honors English 10-7 7 May 2015 The Great Migration The Great Migration was a movement in which a large number of African Americans relocated from the rural south to urban cities in Northern and Western United States. This movement lasted from 1915 to 1970 and approximately six million African Americans left their homes to move to urban cities. In hopes of escaping injustice in the south and in search for different job opportunities, numerous African Americans migrated to Chicago.…

    • 1312 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Although Hughes had trouble with both black and white critics, he was the first black American to earn his living solely from his writing and public lectures. Part of the reason he was able to do this was the phenomenal acceptance and love he received from average black people” (Poetry 1). This speaks volumes because even though Hughes was knocked down and struggled throughout his life and career he still managed to bring attention to key issues and African Americans were thankful for that. He started out in the Harlem Renaissance speaking out and gaining attention to the inequalities and then shifted to a Marxist approach and spoke out about capitalism, but in each areas he was…

    • 1261 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    At the start of the 20th century, African-Americans faced extreme hardships in the south. Life for the average African-American was an everyday struggle, as it involved many challenges even well after the ending of slavery. After the abolishment of slavery, many African-Americans remained in the South. The migration movement in was mainly to find better educational opportunities for their children and better employment opportunities for themselves. African-Americans moved out of the southern states to escape the miserable conditions that included low wages, racism and poor education, to seek a better life in the North.…

    • 777 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Great Migration The great migration was when african americans were free from slavery. It started in the late 1800’s and lasted until the 1970’s. It started in the south and moved on to the coasts and the north. The cause of The Great migration was the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation releasing all of the African Americans from slavery.…

    • 692 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Great Black Migration

    • 765 Words
    • 4 Pages

    In short, they knew by moving North this would provide the opportunity they have being dreaming of and allow them to put down the hoe, the mule straps and learned a new trade by working in the industries became. The African Americans had other reason to leave the South as they were facing an economic depression made the price of cotton to drop. Therefore, some farmers took a major financial hit because they had to sell their cotton at price lower than usual in which the farmers depended on cotton for a source of income. Furthermore, between 1915 and 1916, the farmers cotton “source of income” dried up with the devastation of the cotton crop b the boll weevil (Mullane, 1993, p.…

    • 765 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    After a civil war , you would expect for everything to go back to normal. In this case, it could never go back to the way it was. The lives of these people were affected forever. There were jobs lost and families evicted from their houses. They had to deal with poor working conditions.…

    • 675 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    When one is asked of some of the most significant periods of African American history, two spans of time that are always thought of: The Harlem Renaissance and the Civil Rights Movement. During the Great Migration, Americans moved to New York to seek a better standard of living and relief from the institutionalized racism in the South. The pouring in of black people into Harlem created the Harlem Renaissance. This brought the debate over racial identity and the future of black America to the forefront of the national consciousness. Artists and writers such as Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston championed the “New Negro,” the African American who took pride in his or her cultural heritage.…

    • 1088 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Great Essays

    Introduction: The American Civil War (1860-1865) was a disaster for the Confederate south, leaving many soldiers dead and the south destroyed. However the state of the southern slaves was forever changed. In 1915, thousands of African Americans voyaged from the south to the north, radically changing their opportunties for learning and developing skills. “After many harsh years of slavery, the African American was in great need of happiness and celebration.…

    • 1635 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In “Democracy” written by Langston Hughes, he is convinced African Americans should not sit around waiting for their freedom. Instead, they should fight for equal rights because nothing just comes while sitting around. Democracy was much needed during this time, because African Americans were still fighting for freedom. Hughes wants to reap the benefits of being free while he is still alive.…

    • 349 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays