The Civil Rights movement began in the mid 1950’s and spanned into the late 1960’s. This was a tumultuous time for African Americans, in that they were fighting for their rights. During and before this time period, Mr. Langston Hughes wrote several poems about the disparity between race in America. Through vivid imagery, Langston Hughes comments on the nuances of being African American in America in the era of the Civil Rights Movement.

In “Theme for English B”, Hughes discusses both the differences and similarities between white and black americans. Hughes paints the reader a great physical and figurative picture of the disparities between the two races by describing the speaker’s college experience. The speaker starts off the poem by highlighting the differences between the white professor, his white classmates, and himself. He says that the speaker is the “only colored student in [his college] class” in a college “on the hill above Harlem”. Harlem is a predominately African American community in New York. It is symbolic that this predominately white college is situated on a hill above the predominately black community of Harlem. Even though the Civil Rights Movement had begun, African Americans still had a long way to go to be able to get up to the “college on the hill” where the white …show more content…
However, in “I Too” he questions whether or not he is treated like the American he is because of the color of his skin. In the poem the speaker states “They’ll see how beautiful I am And be ashamed- I,too,am America”. Hughes starts the poem, saying I am the darker brother America, when company comes I have to go in the kitchen to eat. The narrator of the poem refers to slavery when he states, I have to eat In the kitchen. As the poem continues the narrarator states that I will grow strong [while eating in the kitchen] and tomorrow I will sit at the table to eat when company is