Langston Hughes | excerpt of Let America Be America Again
In this episode of the Get Lit Minute, your weekly poetry podcast, we spotlight American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist, Langston Hughes. One of the earliest innovators of the literary art form called jazz poetry, Hughes is best known as a leader of the Harlem Renaissance.
excerpt of \u201cLet America Be America Again\u201d
Let America be America again.
Let it be the dream it used to be.
Let it be the pioneer on the plain
Seeking a home where he himself is free.
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(America never was America to me.)
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Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed\u2014
Let it be that great strong land of love
Where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme
That any man be crushed by one above.
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(It never was America to me.)
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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.
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(There\u2019s never been equality for me,
Nor freedom in this \u201chomeland of the free.\u201c)
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Say, who are you that mumbles in the dark?
And who are you that draws your veil across the stars?
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I am the poor white, fooled and pushed apart,
I am the Negro bearing slavery\u2019s scars.
I am the red man driven from the land,
I am the immigrant clutching the hope I seek\u2014
And finding only the same old stupid plan
Of dog eat dog, of mighty crush the weak.
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I am the young man, full of strength and hope,
Tangled in that ancient endless chain
Of profit, power, gain, of grab the land!
Of grab the gold! Of grab the ways of satisfying need!
Of work the men! Of take the pay!
Of owning everything for one\u2019s own greed!
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Read the full excerpt and learn more about Hughes at http://getlitanthology.org/poemdetail/57/
Watch our Get Lit Poets perform in the movie "Summertime" directed by Carlos Lopez Estrada, and written and produced by Get Lit. Visit www.getlit.org for info on the film or to learn about accessing our programming for your school or literacy needs.\xa0