Blog 4

As far as the correlation and conversation with the New Negro
concept for my thesis paper I discussed Langston Hughes. Many black writers considered Langston Hughes’ works on Black Pride as out of date. It was at this time period that the idea of racial integration became popular. Some other critics of Hughes went as far as considering him a racial chauvinist.
Nevertheless, Hughes showed courage in facing racial and class oppression. He continued to impress his younger generation of black writers. One of the young black writers had this to say about Hughes, “Langston set a tone, a standard of brotherhood and friendship and cooperation, for all of us to follow.” The “New Negro” needed high self-esteem. Langston Hughes taught and practiced psychology of mental health. By this, Hughes reversed the negative self-worth of poor blacks in the United States. Blacks were taught to be happy about their dark skin color. They were taught also to ignore the prejudices that make them inferior to whites. Hughes stressed the
need for the Negro artist to accept himself/herself as a beautiful human being.


This was his advice for the “New Negro”, “If colored people are pleased we are glad. If they are not, their displeasure does not matter either. We build our temples for tomorrow.” Black people have suffered discrimination because of the color of their skin since slavery. Langston
Hughes was determined to make blacks understand that there was nothing wrong with their skin color. That was the beginning of the psychological wellbeing of blacks as a whole. Thanks to Hughes’ prescription. The “New Negro” also benefited from Charles S. Johnson, a sociologist
and an educator, whose teaching of “Cyclical Theory” taught Blacks that contact and interaction between people of different races would improve their chances of success. Cyclical theory has a premise that “contact and interaction between different racial groups was requisite to breaking
the barriers of segregation and discrimination.”