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Explanation:
In “The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain,” a short essay published by The Nation in 1926, poet Langston Hughes writes about the importance of embracing black culture and the necessity for black artists and authors not to conform to a standardized (i.e. white) idea of artistic expression.
Hughes begins his essay with a quote from a poet he does not name, but which contextual details indicate may have been Hughes's contemporary Countee Cullen. Cullen says, essentially, that he wants to be known as a poet of merit, not as a “Negro poet.” Hughes is appalled by Cullen's statement, his denial of his skin color and heritage. He makes it clear in the first paragraph of the essay that this situation, in which the black artist strives for “standardization” and whiteness, is the racial mountain indicated in the title of the piece, which all African-American artists fight to climb.
Hughes analyzes the background of the young poet he quotes. He talks about how the poet was most likely striving toward whiteness because of his upbringing – his parents both worked for rich white people, and he came from a comfortable, middle-class, church-going family. He also attended an unsegregated school, one of few in the region where he was raised, which may have contributed to his rejection of his heritage. Hughes writes that because of his upbringing, this poet was never taught the beauty and value of his own heritage, only the beauty and value of whiteness.
Hughes continues on to describe the differences between “high-class” and the more common African-American homes. These high-class homes he describes are notably whitewashed. He depicts a family with a well-educated father and a light-skinned mother with a job in the service industry, or no job at all. The focus of the family is on the church and material objects. On the other side of the coin, Hughes notes, the majority of black families live a different kind of life. Hughes describes the joy and playfulness of neighborhoods full of jazz music, drinking, and dancing in Washington and Chicago. These places are livelier, less reserved, and proud of their culture and their heritage. Hughes makes it clear that in these neighborhoods, black people are not rejecting a white way of life. Rather, they are living the life they choose to live, one that feels joyful to them, without caring what white people think of it. Hughes makes it clear that he is thankful that there are more of these kinds of African-American homes, where there is pride in black heritage and culture.
Hughes then begins to discuss more explicitly his hatred of standardization and how he feels it impedes upon black voices. This is done, he argues, through American culture and education. Children of all races are taught that certain aspects of culture are more valuable than others and that there are certain parameters for what should be expressed, taught, or exhibited. Though Hughes makes it clear that historically, these valued expressions were made primarily by white men, he acknowledges that the U.S. of the 1920s is experiencing a cultural moment that values black art and black writing. Rather than allowing black artists to disappear from the spotlight only weeks after producing their work, if they are known at all, Hughes notes that in contemporary America it is hip to enjoy black music, art, and writing. This, he thinks, is also dangerous. He expresses his concerns about how black art catering to white interests could dilute the uniqueness of the artist that made them popular to begin with.
Hughes finishes his essay with a distinct note about why he writes about black issues. He makes it clear that he believes that every issue in America is a racial issue and that to write otherwise is to deny one’s own heritage and reject one’s family's legacy and history. Hughes suggests that choosing not to write from the perspective of the black experience as an African-American is the same as giving in to one standardized view of beauty and art.
Hughes, one of America's most famous poets, was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship as well as an NAACP Spingarn Medal for his literary and cultural achievements. He traveled widely and wrote dozens of books before his death in 1967. He was a noted social activist with an interest in Communism and alternative systems of segregation. He was also a founder of the genre of jazz poetry, which began during the Harlem Renaissance and was continued and adapted by the Beats in the 1950s.
