Langston Hughes

Langston Hughes’ “Let America Be America Again” speaks open and honestly about oppression during a time when it was still taboo to speak about these topics. Integration was new and novel while both sides were still marinating in its nuances. Hughes speaks of many groups who were and still are oppressed in one way or another. African Americans, Native Americans, poor whites, immigrants, farmers and workers are all given equal grounds to stand up in this poem and demand equality. Although he does single out the African American’s journey as of more significance and importance throughout by way of multiple references, Hughes does a thorough job of making it clear that they are not the only victims of racism and oppression. In his lines, “I am the poor white, fooled and pushed apart, I am the Negro bearing slavery’s scars. I am the red man driven from the land, I am the immigrant clutching the hope I seek”, it is clear that he is purposefully including many marginalized groups of the society in 1938 that most likely were forgotten by the writers at the time.

Reflective of the Depression that so defined this era, Hughes’ line, “Who said the free? Not me? Surely not me? The millions on relief today?” sums up what is obvious homage to the degradation of the financial landscape at the time. In a similar line, “The millions who have nothing for our pay”, reflects the desperate times that were facing Americans during the Depression. In yet another line, Hughes not only references the materialistic views of the upper classes, but does so in a way that is still highly relevant in our time, “Tangled in that ancient endless chain Of profit, power, gain, of grab the land! Of grab the gold! Of grab the ways of satisfying need!....... Of owning everything for one’s own greed!”. How true and insightful is this line even today as we see the capitalistic market more ominous than ever.