The One Where Vic Shares Langston Hughes' "Negro" Poem

In my Literature class we had a poetry unit and there were a number of poems that we read, critiqued and shared. There were a lot by Langston Hughes, whom I love. I thought I'd share one, the one that I used for one of my critique essays. I thought I'd share the poem with you all.


"Negro" by Langston Hughes

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 hands 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 depth of my Africa.