First: Watch this video on “Langston Hughes and the Harlem
Renaissance”
Second: Respond to the prompts below.
Explain in your own words the key characteristics of the Harlem Renaissance and Langston Hughes’ place in it.
The narrator argues, “If circumstances don’t change there might be dangerous consequences…Withholding true equality has real risks and real costs to everyone in a social order.” Can you think of a current poet or musician who is spreading a message of equality like Hughes did? Give an example of a current poet or musician whose art is a response to racial, gender, or social inequalities that we still experience today. Make sure to tell us who the poet or musician is, what his/her message is, and then provide an example of one of his/her poems or songs.
