Not only did Hughes suffer from poverty but also from restrictions that came with living in a segregated community. While he attended an integrated school, he was not permitted to play team sports or join the Boy Scouts. Even his favorite movie theater put a sign that read "No Colored Admitted." In spite of these obstacles, Hughes developed a natural sense of self-confidence and hope. His grandmother always lived as a free woman and was insistent about standing up for the right of all people to be free. Under her influence, Hughes learned to endure the hardships of prejudice without surrendering his dignity or pride. (Berry 7)

"My father hated Negroes," Hughes wrote, "I think he hated himself, too, for being a Negro." Hughes wanted to attend Colombia University and needed his father's financial aid. His father

"My seeking has been to explain and illuminate the Negro condition in America and obliquely that of all humankind." When Langston Hughes wrote this statement, he was explaining what he tried to do over the course of his career. He created a body of work-poetry, fiction, journalism, essays, plays, and song lyrics-that reflected on the black experience and informed white Americans about racial issues. While condemning racism and the inequities it created for blacks and other minorities, Hughes called for co-operation among all races. He crossed color barriers to gain widespread popularity. His personal compassion, social awareness, and literary talent made him one of the dominant voices in American literature and perhaps the single most influential black poet. (Berry 5)

Poets of the Harlem Renaissance and After. 17 May 2000. The Academy of American Poets,

The Harlem Renaissance was a cultural and psychological watershed. It was an era in which black people were perceived as having finally liberated themselves from a past fraught with self-doubt to an unprecedented optimism. It gave African Americans a novel pride in all things black and a cultural confidence that stretched beyond the borders of Harlem to other black communities in the Western world. The Harlem Renaissance was a provocative response to the new era: an aesthetic response that transcends time to celebrate identity, creativity, the past, and the present. (Rummel 33)

24 May 2000. An American Reader, U of Texas. 1996 .

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1066
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)