Langston Hughes A Jazz Poet - 1045 Words

Langston Hughes (James Mercer Langston Hughes) was a poet, columnist, dramatist, essayist, lyricist, and novelist. He was one of the earliest innovators of the literary art form called jazz poetry. Hughes, like others, was active in the Harlem Renaissance, and he had a strong sense of racial pride. Through his poem, novels, short stories, plays, and kids books, he promoted equality, condemned racism, and injustice, and celebrated African American culture, and humor. (Illinois). Langston Hughes was the son of Carrie Mercer Langston and James Nathaniel Hughes. He was born February 1, 1902, in Joplin, Missouri. Langston Hughes grew up in a series of small Midwestern towns. Hughes’ father divorced Langston’s mother, Carrie. Then his†¦show more content†¦In the same year, he entered the Amy Spingarn Contest in Crisis magazine and won poetry and essay prizes. In 1926, he won first prize in the Witter Bynner Undergraduate Poetry Prize contest. His first piece of jazz poetry, â€Å"When She Wears Red†, was written in high school. (Poetry Volume 13). Langston Hughes was one of the most inspirational people of his time. He wrote stories for all the African Americans that were living through the struggle of racial discrimination. In the 1960’s Langston was known as the â€Å"dean of the Negro writers†. He wrote short stories and children’s books to give these people a sense of hope. Langston Hughes has as much impact on todays society as he did during the 1920’s. He continues to serve as a voice for the African Americans. Hughes was also a communist. Many Blacks in this time period were for communism. They looked at it as an alternative to slavery and racism. (Poetry Vol. 13). Some of Hughes’s major works were: â€Å"Mother to Son,† â€Å"The Ballad of the Landlord,† â€Å"I, Too,† â€Å"As I Grew Older,† â€Å"The Negro Mother,† and â€Å" The Negro speaks of riversâ₠¬ . His first published poem, â€Å"The Negro Speaks of Rivers†, was also one of his most famous, appearing in Brownies Book. Later, his poems, short plays, essays and short stories would appear in the NAACP publication, â€Å"Crisis Magazine†, in â€Å"Opportunity Magazine†, and others. Langston is not very welcomed among his people. He has received different reactions fromShow MoreRelatedEssay on Langston Hughes: Jazz Poet922 Words   |  4 PagesLangston Hughes Many poets are well recognized for their poems and live that they lived but, one poet is not all that well known. This poet had a rough live living in persecution just because of his skin color. The famous but forgotten Langston Hughes had an exciting career and very intense writings during the severe segregation era which he had lived in Langston Hughes traveled around the world, which made his very exciting career although, it started out slow, and once it got going it took offRead MoreThe Influences for Langston Hughes Successful Writing Career979 Words   |  4 Pagesthroughout our history. Langston Hughes was able to recognize that, â€Å"Man had the inability to bridge cultures† (Bloom 16). In one of his writings, Luani of the Jungles, Langston writes about the interactions in a relationship between a white man and a black woman, â€Å"that is not ruined by outside disapproval, but the man’s own obsession and oversimplification of their racial differences† (16). Hughes’s ability to speak openly about his ideas earned him the title of â€Å"the Poet of Laureate of Harlem† (BaileyRead MoreThe Harlem Renaissance By Langston Hughes1033 Words   |  5 Pagesto around 1935. Even though this period was short, it still lives on though all African American artists today. According to Biography.com in the article about Langston Hughes, there were many artist, musicians, and writers such as Langston Hughes, who was a huge part of the Harlem Renaissance period. Langston Hughes was a well-known poet and play writer. In the magazine called â€Å"The Crisis† his poem â€Å"Negros Speak of River† was published in 1921 and brought him attention in all the black communitiesRead MoreEssay on James Langston Hughes891 Words   |  4 Pages (February 1, 1902 - May 22, 1967) Born in Joplin, Missouri, James Langston Hughes was born into an abolitionist family. He was the grandson of grandson of Charles Henry Langston, the brother of John Mercer Langston, who was the the first Black American to be elected to public office in 1855. Hughes attended Central High School in Cleveland, Ohio, but began writing poetry in the eighth grade, and was selected as Class Poet. His father didnt think he would be able to make a living as at writingRead MoreLangston Hughes The Weary Blues Analysis1256 Words   |  6 PagesOn Langston Hughes’s The Weary Blues Kevin Young, a graduate of Harvard University and one of the winners of the Guggenheim Fellowship, writes the historical perspective of Langston Hughes. He discusses the flowering of the African American literature and culture and how it is actually just the extension of the New Negro movement. From the Harlem Renaissance, Langston Hughes is able to represent â€Å"different things† for â€Å"different men.† The uprising of Hughes’s poems are the result of their hardshipsRead MoreLangston Hughes : Jazz Poetry And Harlem Renaissance1212 Words   |  5 PagesLangston Hughes Jazz Poetry and Harlem Renaissance Langston Hughes was an African American poet who was born on 01 February 1902 in Joplin, Missouri. His parents separated and later divorced during his childhood. Subsequently he was raised predominantly by his maternal grandmother. His grandparents were politically active and supporters of the abolition of slavery. They were activists in the movement for voting rights for African Americans. Through their active involvement in his upbringingRead MoreReoccurring Themes in the Work of Langston Hughes Essay1649 Words   |  7 PagesLangston Hughes is an extremely successful and well known black writer who emerged from the Harlem Renaissance (â€Å"Langston Hughes† 792). He is recognized for his poetry and like many other writers from the Harlem Renaissance, lived most of his life outside of Harlem (â€Å"Langston Hughes† 792). His personal experiences and opinions inspire his writing intricately. Unlike other writers of his time, Hughes expresses his discontent with bl ack oppression and focuses on the hardships of his people. Hughes’Read MoreEssay on Langston Hughes? Influence on American Literature1422 Words   |  6 Pages Langston Hughes was one of the great writers of his time. He was named the â€Å"most renowned African American poet of the 20th century† (McLaren). Through his writing he made many contributions to following generations by writing about African American issues in creative ways including the use of blues and jazz. Langston Hughes captured the scene of Harlem life in the early 20th century significantly influencing American Literature. He once explained that his writing was an attempt to â€Å"explain andRead More Langston Hughes Essay670 Words   |  3 Pages James Langston Hughes was born February 1, 1902, in Joplin, Missouri. His parents divorced when he was very small, and his father (who found American racism made his desires to be a lawyer impossible) left the family and emigrated to Mexico. Hughes moth er moved with her child to Lawrence, Kansas, so she and he could live with his grandmother, Mary Langston. Langston Hughes mother moved to Topeka in 1907, leaving the five-year-old with his grandmother. Langston came from a family of African-AmericanRead MoreEssay on Langston Hughes a Harlem Renaissance Man1463 Words   |  6 Pagesknown as Harlem matured into the hideaway of jazz and the blues where the African American artist emerged calling themselves the â€Å"New Negro.† The New Negro was the cornerstone for an era known today as the Harlem Renaissance (Barksdale 23). The Harlem Renaissance warranted the expression of the double consciousness of the African Americans, which was exposed by artists such as Langston Hughes. James Mercer Langston Hughes was an African American poet, journalist, playwright, and novelist whose works

Exploring Online Communities Essay - 1505 Words

Exploring Online Communities First language, then print, and now telecommunications allow us to link thoughts and form communities, or groups based on common interests or common localities. However, in the not so distant past of the pre-virtual reality and pre-telecommunications age, community was the place where people lived, worked or played. For most of human recorded history, community was close to home and place dependent. Nowadays, cyberspace exists and permeates the real world in which we live. Increasingly more humans belong to multiple communities, some of them transcending the limitations of location, time and space. As a result, new kinds of communities have emerged. Cyber communities have expanded the parameters of†¦show more content†¦In an educational setting like a classroom, as distinguished from other groups who may casually connect on the Internet, cyber communities bring together people with similar interests, objectives, and at times backgrounds. Thinking together and jointly creating knowledge and understanding is one of the goals of building an educational community. This interactivity between classmates may cultivate a communal mind, or community network, derived from mutual awareness and reciprocal benefits. Since the medium of computer-mediated communication (CMC) is in its infancy, one of my aims during this course is to explore and reflect upon how to build effective educational cyber communities for both distance education and as a supplement to F2F language classroom instruction. As a believer in the social construction of knowledge, in the active role learners should play in their studies and in the role of the human mind as the most important component of any course, this first position paper deals with some general principles of humanizing computer mediated environment and the importance of developing a sense of learners’ community. Social constructionists tend to assume that learning occurs among persons rather than between persons and things and that â€Å"knowledge is contextual and relative† (Bruffee, 1985, p. 45). Many pedagogical scholars have advocated that students learn best in an environmentShow MoreRelated Internet - Exploring Our Inner-self in Cyberspace Essay1556 Words   |  7 PagesExploring Our Inner-self in Cyberspace Cyberspace is a new communication medium which enables us to understand our social behavior. In the ‘real world’ and ‘virtual world,’ we understand ourselves by developing aspects of our identity. However, in the virtual world, we can explore our inner-self without rejection that may be experienced in the real world. Cyberspace is, thus, a psychological ‘space’ to build and form, explore and discover, and accept and understand ourselves. To explain thisRead MoreHow Online Brand Communication And Customer Engagement Influence A Consumer s Decision Purchase872 Words   |  4 PagesResearch Question: â€Å"How online brand communication and customer engagement influence a consumer’s decision purchase.† The marketing strategy of branding is not a new concept. A company’s brand is not a logo, or a tag line, but rather the relationship it has with its customer base, it is in essence not how a company defines itself – but how the public defines it. With every interaction and every customer touch point a business shapes its brand identity, and participants in this exchange are knownRead More Personal Identity and the Internet Essay1435 Words   |  6 Pagestechnology allows people to broaden their horizons, exploring different cultures and learning new information. In addition to learning about others, the Internet provides people with a means of learning about themselves. Online, they can assume different identities, exploring multiple facets of their personalities. In the words of Justin Lewis, a student at the Ohio State University who frequently chats online in multi-user domains, â€Å"When you are online, you are who you pretend to be.† This brings upRead Mor eSocial Media And Its Effect On Our Audience1365 Words   |  6 Pagesthat Greenpeace is able to interact directly and globally with their audiences regardless the time and place. Through social media, written and verbal communication with mass audience is made possible through social media posts such as blogs, online community, comments and videos. On Facebook, audiences are actively engaged in conversations with Greenpeace through comments on Greenpeace’s posts. On the other hand, while social media offered various features for organisations to interact with theirRead MoreCommunispace794 Words   |  4 Pagesbrand-focused online communities in order to enable members to communicate with each other and generate focus groups to discuss the product. A community is built as a long-term project; it continues to produce valuable information for companies over the course of its existence. The business model utilized by Communispace helps to provide facilitation and management powered by technology and innovation. Communispace differentiates itself by focusing on the strategy of building online communities thatRead MoreA Brave New World For International News1419 Words   |  6 PagesJOUR2221 ASSESSMENT ITEM 2 CRITICAL REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE ON FOREIGN NEWS: Article 1 A brave new world for international news?: Exploring the determinants of the coverage of foreign nations on US Websites. H. Denis Wu. Introduction: With the introduction of the internet news consumption and peoples news consumption has changed significantly, as well as the way in which news organizations provide content to the public. The author of this study seeks to investigate the consumption methods of individualsRead MoreExploring Loss Of Culture And The Social And Political Outcomes Based On Inequality And Mistreatment920 Words   |  4 Pageshow being taken from your ancestral land, and removed from your community would create a disconnectedness with â€Å"White Australia† and that Aboriginal Australians are still affected by past experiences today (Price Rose, 2012). Main teaching activities Students will be exploring an inquiry question throughout the unit of â€Å"How did connectedness get broken?† (Education Australia, 2013). Within this inquiry unit students are exploring loss of culture and the social and political outcomes based on inequalityRead MoreEssay1381 Words   |  6 Pagesoffers an in-depth analysis of different examples of users posting certain things online, their interactions being recorded, and discussing why these choices were made, specifically for languages chosen. In particular individual who were multilingual were examined and often their motives and choices for choosing certain content over others to post. I think this research will be useful in my paper because the reach of online gaming spans the globe, and is not restricted to any one area usually. The ideaRead MoreVideo Games, Social, And Social And Emotional Wellbeing Of Adolescents978 Words   |  4 Pagesinteractive social media of some sort. Parents worry their child is online for too long, the internet may deprive teens of social skills needed in face to face conversation, or the internet is a place full of exposure to the cruelty of harsh harassment from peers, better known as cyberbullying. But with most negatives comes a positive and the internet seems to be one of negatives that come with a positive feature as well. These online communities are good sources for teenagers because of the encouragementRead MoreSeeking Your True Self in the Virtual World1394 Words   |  6 Pagesshifted online. While many, especially the younger generation, embrace the liberation that digital communities offer, others are apprehensive of the dangers that lurk in the virtual world. The anxiety is not entirely unjustified. Nevertheless, the truth is the benefits that accompany online communities far outweigh its drawbacks. According to Daniel Chandler, author of â€Å"Identities under Construction†, and Danah Boyd, an American researcher known for her works on social network sites, online tools such

The Handmaids Tale Free Essays

Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale takes place in a post Cold War society plagued by infertility. Atwood presents the reader with â€Å"The Republic of Gilead†, the Christian theocracy that overthrew the United States government. Narrated by a woman renamed Offred, the reader gets an idea of a future in which women are no longer women, but are solely needed for reproduction. We will write a custom essay sample on The Handmaids Tale or any similar topic only for you Order Now Atwood uses a system of vocabulary established under the Republic of Gilead in order to manipulate and dehumanize women and men throughout the text. Under this new society women are efined under their gender roles. No longer are women allowed to hold Jobs, make an income, or have control over their body. Men on the other hand are referred to by their military rank. Women are then placed into the group in which the Republic of Gilead finds fitting. Some sent off to reproduce children, others to work and wait for a slow cruel death. Offred is what the Republic of Gilead labels a handmaid. A handmaid’s sole purpose is to produce a child for elite families of the Republic. Handmaids are stripped from their own clothes and are forced to wear all red. A floor length dress that gives the handmaid no shape, red shoes, and red gloves. The color red is extremely symbolic towards their position in society. The red clothing could be interpreted in a multitude of ways. Red is the color of a women’s menstrual blood. Therefore the wearing of red deems the handmaids one of the few fertile women among society. However, in history red has been a marker of sexual sin. The handmaids are essentially having sex with married men. All handmaids are immediately stripped of their birth name and put under possession of the commander. Offred receives this name because her commander’s name is Fred, and she is â€Å"of† Fred. This is the Republic of Gilead’s way of literally dehumanizing and stripping the handmaid’s from any personalization. I looked up the definition of the word â€Å"handmaiden†, and it is defined as such, â€Å"A handmaiden is a personal maid, female servant, or a subordinate thing†. Under this new society, these women who are able to produce life, are literally referred to as â€Å"things† and â€Å"possessions†. In the beginning of this new society handmaidens arrive at a place called â€Å"the red center†. It is here they learn to be trained by what the Republic of Gilead labels â€Å"Aunts†. Aunts attempt to promote the handmaid’s as an honorable Job and position in society. The term â€Å"aunt† is appropriately used and applied by Atwood throughout the novel. Their Job is to train, reform and advise handmaids in order to prepare them for their new life. One activity the aunt’s used in attempt to brainwash and manipulate the handmaid’s was â€Å"testifying†. It was during this time handmaid’s told their apparent â€Å"faults† from their previous lives and was then taunted for it. Offred tells one handmaid’s story from â€Å"testifying as such, â€Å"It’s Janine, telling about how she was gang-raped at fourteen and had an abortion†. The other handmaids chant in unison claiming it is â€Å"her fault, her fault, her fault†. Offred explains how during the last time Janine told the story she burst into tears. However, during this weeks testifying she immediately takes responsibility tor being raped claiming, â€Å"It was my tault It was my own fault, I led them on†. The aunt’s have completed their Job by manipulating the handmaids into believing that a rape was wanted. Upon entering a commander’s home there are no longer aunts, but â€Å"Marthas†. The Handmaid’s Tale is laced with biblical references throughout the entire novel. Atwood’s use of the name â€Å"Martha† comes directly from a story in Luke 10:38-42 in which Jesus goes to visit his mother Mary and Martha. While Mary sits and listens to Jesus speak, Martha is too busy with all of the duties she had to accomplish. This is exactly what the Martha’s are seen doing while working in the commander’s home. The Marthas, Cora and Rita, are to fulfill all domestic roles in the house, exactly like Martha had done in the bible. While Marthas take care of the house, the commander’s wives are not expected to do the same. Wives are superior to all women, and it is made clear to Offred right away. However, while living in the commander’s home it is apparent that even though the handmaidens are forced into a situation unwanted, so have the wives. Wives are to lay with the handmaiden while the commander has sex with the handmaiden. Labeled as, â€Å"the ceremony’, this event is emotionally scarring towards both females in the situation. After one of the ceremonies Offred even wonders, Which of us is it worse for, her or me†. The act of the â€Å"ceremony’ directly shows how the Republic of Gilead has dehumanized both low ranking and high-ranking women. Sex is no longer performed for love and passion, but only to produce a child. On one hand, Offred has no say over her body and what is happening to her. Offred even states, â€Å"It’s only the inside of our bodies that is important. The outside can become hard and wrinkled for all they care†. On the other hand, the commander’s wife, Serena Joy, has to lie there while her husband has sex with another woman. While dealing with those struggles seem unfair and unjust, other women are worse off. Deformed babies, sterile women and former feminists are not even given a chance in this society. Denoted with the labels of â€Å"unwomen† and â€Å"unbabies†, they are sent to â€Å"the colonies†. The colonies are places in which agriculture is produced and also a place of deadly radiation and pollution. The Republic of Gilead immediately sends them there because they have no use for them in their supreme society. The Republic of Gilead does not only oppress women, but men too. Offred’s ormer friend Moira explained to her in detail the colonies, â€Å"All of them wear long dresses like the ones at the Center, only gray. Women and the men too, Judging from the group shots. I guess it’s supposed to demoralize the men having to wear a dress†. Under this society, if you do not fit their standards, you are deemed unnecessary. Atwood also uses certain vocabulary to define certain religious rituals that take place throughout the novel. â€Å"Praywaganzas,† â€Å"Salvagings,† and â€Å"Particicutions† are a few of the rituals used to manipulate handmaidens into practicing the societies beliefs. How to cite The Handmaids Tale, Papers