Langston Hughes

"I have discovered in life that there are ways of getting almost anywhere you want to go, if you really want to go."
Langston Hughes

"We Negro writers, just by being black, have been on the blacklist all our lives. Censorship for us begins at the color line."
Langston Hughes

Langston Hughes is one of Americas most popular African American poets. I read Mulatto and Ku Klux to expose myself to more controversial poems. Mulatto is powerful poem about a mulatto boy who is regretted by his father. I just wonder why he keeps referring to the pines? I just wonder if the white man smells like a pine tree or maybe something sexual? Ku Klux is another poem that touches people's nerves. I think the use of the "N" word and the abuse the Klan members are going to induce on this man is shocking. I am not saying I didn't know language like this isn't used or the KKK didn't kill people. I just think reading about it strikes a nerve in me. Hughes wrote these poems to strike a fire in people. His use of the "n" word and giving the reader a clear picture of what is happening/happened to African Americans would motivate others to rise up and help the African American community.
In the poem Negro, Hughes in 19 lines tells us the story of the African American struggle. His use of words in the poems stir people's emotions. I am sure people who read these poems now and then feel some sort of compassion for the African American community.