Langston Hughes (12th November)

James Mercer Langston Hughes (February 1, 1902 – May 22, 1967) was an African-American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist. He was one of the earliest innovators of the then-new literary art form jazz poetry. Hughes is best known for his work during the Harlem Renaissance. He famously wrote about the period that "the negro was in vogue" which was later paraphrased as "when Harlem was in vogue".

Poem of our choice: Will V-Day Be Me-Day Too?

Over There,

            World War II.

                                             

Dear Fellow Americans,

I write this letter

Hoping times will be better

When this war

Is through.

I'm a Tan-skinned Yank

Driving a tank.

I ask, WILL V-DAY

BE ME-DAY, TOO?

I wear a U. S. uniform.

I've done the enemy much harm,

I've driven back

The Germans and the Japs,

From Burma to the Rhine.

On every battle line,

I've dropped defeat

Into the Fascists' laps.

I am a Negro American

Out to defend my land

Army, Navy, Air Corps—

I am there.

I take munitions through,

I fight—or stevedore, too.

I face death the same as you do

Everywhere.

I've seen my buddy lying

Where he fell.

I've watched him dying

I promised him that I would try

To make our land a land

Where his son could be a man—

And there'd be no Jim Crow birds

Left in our sky.

So this is what I want to know:

When we see Victory's glow,

Will you still let old Jim Crow

Hold me back?

When all those foreign folks who've waited—

Italians, Chinese, Danes—are liberated.

Will I still be ill-fated

Because I'm black?

Here in my own, my native land,

Will the Jim Crow laws still stand?

Will Dixie lynch me still

When I return?

Or will you comrades in arms

From the factories and the farms,

Have learned what this war

Was fought for us to learn?

When I take off my uniform,

Will I be safe from harm—

Or will you do me

As the Germans did the Jews?

When I've helped this world to save,

Shall I still be color's slave?

Or will Victory change

Your antiquated views?

You can't say I didn't fight

To smash the Fascists' might.

You can't say I wasn't with you

in each battle.

As a soldier, and a friend.

When this war comes to an end,

Will you herd me in a Jim Crow car

Like cattle?

Or will you stand up like a man

At home and take your stand

For Democracy?

That's all I ask of you.

When we lay the guns away

To celebrate

Our Victory Day

WILL V-DAY BE ME-DAY, TOO?

That's what I want to know.

            Sincerely,

                GI Joe.

We shall talk about:

-          * The way the poem is written, being as it is in the form of a letter directed to the “White Americans”;

-                    *  Where it is placed in time, which is World War II;

-                  * The poetic subject’s wish to be free from the “Jim Crows birds” (during our presentation we will explain the meaning of this and how it affects this poem in particular);

-                  * How this poem may influenced the appearance of the American Civil Rights Movement;

We think it is a simple poem that reaches to all of us. It is the struggle of an African-American that wishes him and his “brothers” to have the right to be as much of citizens of America as the “White Americans”.  To have the right to truly call themselves “free”.

Enjoy!

Neuza Machado 

Sara Costa