30 Jan When responding to your peers

HU140 Cultural Diversity

Unit 4 Discussion

Langston Hughes was a major figure in the Harlem Renaissance era, which was a hub of literary, musical, poetical, and philosophical liveliness in Harlem, New York, from the 1920s through the 1930s. A poet, essayist, and intellectual, Hughes is known for his poems that articulate challenges that African Americans and others have faced in the United States.

For your discussion post this week, please view the two videos sharing short poems by Hughes in Unit 4. The poems are “Let American Be America Again” and “The Negro Speaks of Rivers”. You are welcome to analyze the elements you chose in many different ways here, so long as they reflect sincere engagement with these poems. (For example, you may use personal reflections and/or reflections about people you know, or you may offer other kinds of comments about the concerns and hopes of Hughes in his poems.)

After reflecting on their imagery and messages incorporate these concepts into your post:

Identify at least two images, metaphors, similes, or other literary elements from the poems and say how you understand them in the context of what you see as Hughes’s message(s) in these poems.

Consider, for example, what it means for a dream to dry up “like a raisin in the sun” (“Harlem”), what it means for a soul to have “grown deep like the rivers,” in “The Negro Speaks of Rivers”), or “I am the worker sold to the machine,” in “Let America Be America Again”).

Please note: These examples are only examples; you can use any lines from any of the poems that you want.

Please be sure to validate your opinions and ideas with citations and references in APA format.

This topic is valued at 40 points. Please review post and response expectations. Please review the rubric to ensure that your response meets criteria (Read me First Section of the Course).

Cite any resources/references in APA formatting that were used in the discussion-if applicable

Unit 4 Peer Response

When responding to your peers posts consider the perspective of a Native American:

Please respond to at least 2 of your peer’s responses in the Unit 3 discussion board. Please be sure to validate your opinions and ideas with citations and references in APA format.

In your response, consider the literary elements that your student peers have identified from Hughes poems. Then, please say what you make of these literary elements in light of Hughes’ messages in his poetry. Consider the following:

Do you find them relevant to today’s world?

Challenging to your beliefs?

Connecting to those beliefs?