The Harlem Renaissance: Hopes of Prevalence

The Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s represented a major artistic and cultural movement for African Americans to convey history and racial pride through various art forms.

Specifically, poetry became an important resource for African Americans to reveal their struggles for racial equality and tolerance in contemporary American society; their determination to overcome the prejudice and hostility demonstrated by Whites became a familiar subject of Harlem Renaissance poetry.

While both Langston Hughes' "Mother to Son" and Claude McKay's "If We Must Die" illustrated this powerful theme of African-American uprising, Hughes' instructive, didactic message in his poem contrasted McKay's violent, defiant tone.

Langston Hughes' "Mother to Son" discussed the African-American struggle to achieve the "American Dream" in a racially intolerant society.

The speaker, the mother of the young boy, explains to her son that life in America for African Americans is "no crystal stair" - there is no a clear, glamorous path to happiness or a successful life. She further declares that life is full of obstacles that impede the efforts of many trying to reach this high level of societal success: "It's had tacks in it, / And splinters, / And boards torn up..."

However, through her persistence and determination, she has overcome these obstacles, reached new levels of accomplishment and discovered new endeavors with even little or no hope ahead of her.

Although American society did not cater to the needs of African Americans, the mother advises her son to never lose sight of his dreams and passions. By continuing to gradually climb the ladder of success, African Americans, Hughes suggested, would have their lives considerably improve in due time.

His didactic poem brought hope to the African-American community of the Harlem Renaissance, teaching them that diligence and persistence would lead to a rewarding life.

On the other hand, Claude McKay's "If We Must Die" employed a rather rebellious, vicious tone to communicate a similar message of African-American prevalence over White authority in contemporary American society.

McKay set the scene of his poem in the opening lines, describing a group of hogs surrounded by a ferocious pack of barking dogs. McKay used these mundane animals as metaphors to symbolize the futile, defenseless African Americans (the hogs) living in a hostile American society filled with aggressive, prejudiced Whites (the barking dogs).

Although the speaker reveals that their death is nearing, these African Americans wished to die a noble, proud and courageous death that even their enemies will admire: "If we must die. O let us nobly die, / So that our precious blood may not be shed / In vain; then even the monsters we defy / Shall be constrained to honor us though dead!"

The speaker emphatically states that these African Americans must audaciously and defiantly defend themselves against the White man, "the common foe," and deliver one final blow for all they have endured from their enemy.

In the final two lines, the speaker makes a strong concluding statement to provoke African-American courage, pride and prevalence: "Like men we'll face the murderous, cowardly pack, / Pressed to the wall, dying but fighting back!"

By using the paradoxical words "murderous" and "cowardly" to describe these cruel and evil Whites, McKay indicated that the White man can only admire the perseverance, self-pride and bravery that each of these African Americans share.

The Harlem Renaissance became a significant movement for African-American poets to expose their personal views on American society through their own literary talents. The poetry of Langston Hughes and Claude McKay provoked African Americans to stand up for the opportunities, equalities and liberties that America offered them.

With their distinct writing styles and tones, Hughes' "Mother to Son" and McKay's "If We Must Die" both communicated to African-American supporters that their lives will one day be fruitful through the perseverance and determination to overcome the prejudices of White America.

Bibliography

Huggins, Nathan. Voices from the Harlem Renaissance. Oxford Press: USA, 1994.