Monday, December 28, 2009

Negro

I am a Negro:
Black as the night is black,
Black like the depths of my Africa.

I’ve been a slave:
Caesar told me to keep his door-steps clean.
I brushed the boots of Washington.

I’ve been a worker:
Under my hand the pyramids arose.
I made mortar for the Woolworth Building.

I’ve been a singer:
All the way from Africa to Georgia
I carried my sorrow songs.
I made ragtime.

I’ve been a victim:
The Belgians cut off my hands in the Congo.
They lynch me still in Mississippi.

I am a Negro:
Black as the night is black,
Black like the depths of my Africa.


Hughes' "Negro" is a representation of the transformation of the Negro and the consistency of plight. Hughes' simple message is this: A Negro, regardless of time or place is still a Negro barring the same cross of principle.
Is this relevant for the twenty-first century Negro? Could it be that this poem, in a different context, has the capability to capture or represent the plight of that of other minorities? Consider if the title and selected words were changed to "Indian", "Jew", "Jap", or "Hispanic."

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