Who am I? Where did I come from? What religion should I practice? Who is my God? These are questions that African Americans have yet to adequately answer. Even as they reached the notorious era of cultural rebirth called the Harlem Renaissance, Blacks were still heavily influenced by European formality. During the period of slavery, white Americans made successful efforts in converting Blacks into Christianity. By the time slavery was abolished, many African descendants stuck to the beliefs they had been so strictly taught since their arrival to the Americas. The 1920s became an era of black awareness. During this period, African Americans strived to reconnect themselves with their previous African customs and traditions. The Harlem Renaissance
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Born on February 1, 1902, Hughes wrote of his own experiences with racism and white supremacy. In his essay, “The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain”. Hughes asserts that most of his poems are racial in themes and treatment derived from the life he knew (375). Hughes, who has written a host of short stories, musicals, autobiographies, plays, novels, operas, and poems, has also utilized religious verse to highlight the contradictions of white Americans. In his works, Hughes often told the stories of the African American in comparison to …show more content…
Furthermore, Hughes masters the art of grabbing the attention of the audience in how he titles the poem. Perhaps the “bible belt” Hughes is referring to is the idea that white American slave masters used the Bible to “support” or justify their actions. In the poem, Hughes uses religion to demonstrate awareness of segregation. In addition, “Crossing Jordan” by Langston Hughes is a description of the challenges African Americans faced in the attempt to cross the barrier of spiritual confinement. In the poem, the speaker is reflecting on the adversities faced in the attempt to cross over Jordan. The speaker also describes his or her lack of protection by earthly garments. One can assume that the garments mentioned in the poem symbolizes African American support in America. Perhaps the speaker is an African American reading the bible and questioning the lack of direct acknowledgement of race as a whole. In the poem the speaker concludes:
Then I stood out on a
Born on February 1, 1902, Hughes wrote of his own experiences with racism and white supremacy. In his essay, “The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain”. Hughes asserts that most of his poems are racial in themes and treatment derived from the life he knew (375). Hughes, who has written a host of short stories, musicals, autobiographies, plays, novels, operas, and poems, has also utilized religious verse to highlight the contradictions of white Americans. In his works, Hughes often told the stories of the African American in comparison to …show more content…
Furthermore, Hughes masters the art of grabbing the attention of the audience in how he titles the poem. Perhaps the “bible belt” Hughes is referring to is the idea that white American slave masters used the Bible to “support” or justify their actions. In the poem, Hughes uses religion to demonstrate awareness of segregation. In addition, “Crossing Jordan” by Langston Hughes is a description of the challenges African Americans faced in the attempt to cross the barrier of spiritual confinement. In the poem, the speaker is reflecting on the adversities faced in the attempt to cross over Jordan. The speaker also describes his or her lack of protection by earthly garments. One can assume that the garments mentioned in the poem symbolizes African American support in America. Perhaps the speaker is an African American reading the bible and questioning the lack of direct acknowledgement of race as a whole. In the poem the speaker concludes:
Then I stood out on a