This video A Walk Through Harlem also is an effective way to introduce Langston Hughes and subsequently, his poetry, beginning with “The Negro Speaks of Rivers,” a short but poignant piece identifying the soul of the black man or woman at one with the timeless rivers of life. Hughes is said to have written this poem on the back of an envelope while crossing the Mississippi by train.1 Hughes’s poetry is wide-ranging, both lyrical and political; it embodies the voices of ordinary black folks he intended for his main audience. It expresses both a cultural identity and political protest. At a time when the Renaissance was laying the foundation for what was to be the highly visible black culture, Langston Hughes composed over 800 poems. It is no wonder he is sometimes referred to as the poet laureate of black America.
I have chosen a cross section of Hughes’s poems, representative of his style and diversity. “Harlem Night Song,” lyrical and inviting, begins by wooing the reader to:
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Come
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Let us roam the night together
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Singing.
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I love you.
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Across
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The Harlem rooftops
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Moon is shining. . .
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(Harlem Night Song,” 1-7)
“Negro Servant” is also about life after dark in Harlem but it is highly political, juxtaposing the subdued, polite black servant of the day with this same liberated reveler of the night, free of the role of servitude to whites he must play during the day. The final line of “Negro Servant” reads:
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O, sweet relief from faces that are white!
“Harlem Night Club” and “The Weary Blues” capture in rhyme and rhythm the jazz and dance, and ironically the melancholy, of Harlem night clubs where “whites only” are the patrons. Finally the poem “The Heart of Harlem” celebrates the famous and ordinary people and places, “It’s the song with a minor refrain,”2 the soul and heart of Harlem. These are only a few of Langston Hughes’ poems that focus on Harlem.
