The+Negro+Speaks+of+Rivers

In Langston Hughes' poem "The Negro Speaks of Rivers" the reader can immediately get a sense that this poem is specifically for African-Americans at the time. This being an early poem, we can see this as evidence that the era of the Harlem Renaissance was a pivotal step in American history for blacks to begin serious work on civil rights. In the beginning of the poem when the speaker says "I've known rivers ancient as the world and older than the / flow of human blood in human veins" (lines 2-3), one can imagine that the speaker is commenting on the fact that people of African descent have been in the world for as long as any other race. Hughes is telling his African-American readers that they should not feel inferior to any other race because all humans were created equally. Eventually the speaker begins to comment on locations in the world such as Africa and American when he mentions "I built my hut near the Congo and it lulled me to sleep" (5), and "I heard the singing of the Mississippi when Abe Lincoln / went down to New Orleans, and I've seen its / muddy bosom turn all golden in the sunset" (7-9). In one sense, this way of describing only a part of African-American history assures the people that they are not inferior to any other race, and that they have something good worth fighting to attain. The call is to fight for equal rights. Finally, there is a line that says "My soul has grown deep like the rivers" (10). Hughes utilizes this phrase to allow blacks to notice that they have the same potential as any other race to succeed with their wisdom. They have a long ancestry, so there has to have been wisdom among the people in the past and in the present.

=**The Influence of the Harlem Renaissance on Gwendolyn Brooks**=

Writers of the Harlem Renaissance such as Langston Hughes opened the doors for future African-American writers such as Gwendolyn Brooks. Brooks took the work of the Harlem Renaissance poets one step further by implementing the interior lives of African-American individuals into her works. Her career also took a slight shift in the sixties by political movements such as The Black Arts Movement. In her poem "We Real Cool", Brooks describes a scene she witnessed with about seven young boys playing pool instead of going to school. The reader can feel the rhythmic sound to the poem and also notice the word "We" at the end of each line. One can argue that the "We" represents all young and old African-Americans that did not contribute positively to society. Brooks may have been calling for a change in the people such as the young boys, especially if they wanted to see a change in their civil rights.

It is interesting to note that both Hughes and Brooks were calling for their fellow African-Americans to make a change in their lives and in their attitudes. These types of positive pieces of art might well have been essential pieces to unite the black community in the call for civil rights.