black
grey
blue
red
brown
white

My soul has grown deep like the rivers.

Langston Hughes

Yet the ivory gods, And the ebony gods, And the gods of diamond-jade, Are only silly puppet gods That people themselves Have made.
LANGSTON HUGHES

Build Fake God Imagination People
Well, I like to eat, sleep, drink, and be in love. I like to work, read, learn, and understand life.
LANGSTON HUGHES

Drink Eat Learning Life Reading Sleep Understand Work
We younger Negro artists who create now intend to express our individual dark-skinned selves without fear or shame. If white people are pleased we are glad. If they aren?t it doesn?t matter.
LANGSTON HUGHES

Artist Creation Darkness Expression Happiness People Skin White Young
A world I dream where black or white, Whatever race you be, Will share the bounties of the Earth And every man is free.
LANGSTON HUGHES

Black Dreams Earth Freedom Man Race White World Yourself
Negro blood is sure powerful, because just one drop of black blood makes a colored man. One drop–you are a Negro! . . . Black is powerful.
LANGSTON HUGHES

Acceptance Black Blood Inspirational Powerful
If you want to honor me, give some young boy or girl who’s coming along trying to create arts and write and compose and sing and act and paint and dance and make something out of the beauties of the Negro race-give that child some help.
LANGSTON HUGHES

Beautiful Children Help Honor Man Race Respect Woman Writing Young
A picture, to be an interesting picture, must be more than a picture, otherwise it is only a reproduction of an object, and not an object of value in itself.
LANGSTON HUGHES

Interest Object Photograph Reproduction Value
When poems stop talking about the moon and begin to mention poverty, trade unions, color, color lines and colonies, somebody tells the police.
LANGSTON HUGHES

Beginning Color Moon Poem Police Stop Talk
I did not believe political directives could be successfully applied to creative writing . . . not to poetry or fiction, which to be valid had to express as truthfully as possible the individual emotions and reactions of the writer.
LANGSTON HUGHES

Believe Creative Direction Politics Reaction Success Thinking Writing
O, let my land be a land where Liberty Is crowned with no false patriotic wreath, But opportunity is real, and life is free, Equality is in the air we breathe.
LANGSTON HUGHES

Breathe Equality Freedom Land Liberty Life Myself Patriot
Go home and write / a page tonight. / And let that page come out of you – / Then, it will be true.
LANGSTON HUGHES

Home Page Poet True Writing Yourself
Let America be America, where equality is in the air we breathe.
LANGSTON HUGHES

Breathe Country Equality
Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair.
LANGSTON HUGHES

Hard Time Life Myself Struggle
Road’s in front o’ me, Nothin’ to do but walk.
LANGSTON HUGHES

Myself Road Walk
There’s a certain amount of traveling in a dream deferred.
LANGSTON HUGHES

Dreams Lost Travel
Teach us all to do right, Lord, please, and to get along together with that atom bomb on this earth because I do not want it to fall on me-nor Thee-nor anybody living. Amen!
LANGSTON HUGHES

Earth God Live Right Teaching Togetherness

My soul has grown deep like the rivers.

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My soul has grown deep like the rivers.

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