What Book Was Let America Be America Again

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"Let America Be America Again" past Langston Hughes. This poem was written on 1935 and originally published in Esquire Mag in 1936. It was revised in 1938 for a collection of Hughes' poems entitled A New Song, which was published by the International Workers Order, an organization with shut links to the American Communist Party.^[1] The version analyzed hither is from the Academy of American Poets website. Here is the poem every bit performed by Aldo Billingslea.

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Langston Hughes was an African-American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist who examined life in U.s.a. during the first part of the 20th Century, exposing oppression, discrimination, and inequality. Hughes was born on February i, 1902 in Joplin, Missouri. Subsequently Hughes' parents divorced, he began living with his grandmother, Mary Langston, who encouraged him to understand the importance of racial problems in America, so he dedicated much of his work to celebrating African American civilization. The difficult experiences that he went through at a young age like growing upwards during a time of segregation motivated him to write poems while he was at grammar school. Later, while Hughes attended Central Loftier School in Ohio, his Latin teacher taught him the importance of writing literature and so he began writing for the newspaper and yearbook. He began writing short stories because books helped him escape from the hardships that he experienced. At the age of seventeen, he wrote his beginning poem called "When Sue Wears Scarlet."^[2]

In the 1920s, Hughes became one of the leaders of the Harlem Renaissance, a congregation of African American artistic, intellectual, and political talent centered in the neighborhood of Harlem, New York. He became famous for defending racial integration around the world, especially with younger generations of Black writers, who considered Hughes as a defender of minorities' rights. Ane case in betoken was his encouragement of Black Americans to bring together World War Two because he believed it would help them obtain ceremonious rights at a time of racial segregation in the United States. Hughes died on May 22, 1967 in Stuyvesant Polyclinic in New York City.^[2]

Assay [edit | edit source]

The Statue of Freedom as symbol of the American Dream

The American Dream deferred: The sign "COLORED WAITING ROOM" illustrates Jim Crow in Durham, Due north Carolina in 1940.

The American Dream represents the liberty and freedom of Americans to pursue what makes them happy. However, this American Dream has not been achievable for everyone. In the 1935 poem "Allow America Be America Once more," written when the country was beginning to recuperate from the Cracking Depression and while Jim Crow segregation was all the same an everyday fact, Hughes examines the land of the American Dream to expose the cruel reality of inequality and servitude that minorities, the working class, and the poor experience in the Us.

The poem begins with a speaker wishing that America were immune to live to its ideals of freedom and equality and then information technology can be "the dream the dreamers dreamed" (line 6), that is, "that cracking strong land of love/Where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme/That any man be crushed past one above" (7-9).

Meanwhile, a second intermixed vocalisation suggests that he has never experienced the American Dream in his life: "America never was America to me" (5). The first speaker, curious, asks the 2d vox to identify itself, and it responds that it is "the poor white, fooled and pushed apart"(nineteen), "the Negro bearing slavery's scars"(20), "the crimson man driven from the land" (21), "the immigrant clutching…hope" (22) "the farmer, bondsman to the soil" (31), "the worker sold to the machine" (32), "the people, apprehensive, hungry, mean" (34), and "the man who never got ahead,/The poorest worker bartered through the years"(37-38). The second voice represents all of those who accept been oppressed, work for low wages, or serve others and they never see prosperity or appreciation. They discover it hard to obtain basic necessities such as food and home to feel condom and secure, fifty-fifty though some are difficult workers. Their housing, their pedagogy, and their health are all second-class. They have been excluded from achieving the American Dream, which for them has been replaced past "the same onetime stupid plan/Of dog eat dog, of mighty vanquish the weak" (23-24).

At this point the poem focuses on those powerful people who oppress poor people and never requite them an opportunity to demonstrate who they actually are and how far they tin go with their dreams. They are described as "leeches on the people's lives" (72) because they live off of the work and the hopes of others, giving trivial in return. They blot the lifeblood of the workers, leaving them weak and vulnerable. Because minorities and the poor practise not accept appropriate representation that could protect them from those "blood suckers," their opportunity to achieve the American Dream disappears.

The speaker ends the poem by swearing an oath: the oppressed of America volition ensure that America will alive upwardly to its ideals. He knows his demand for activity volition cause those who are against him to detest him ("sure call me any ugly proper noun you choose"), but he will never give upwards until the state of affairs changes. He insists that "nosotros must take back our land again" past fighting for the rights all of usa should savor as.

In decision, Hughes' speaker demands the American Dream that he has never experienced. He demands that it come not only for him only also for the many working class families that accept passed through situations like his. Even though he wrote this poem more than a century ago, we go on to see how inequality keeps low-course families in the same spot, which leads to the overall poverty in America. 1 of these inequalities comes from education disparities so that poor and minority students are not getting back up to succeed in their lives.

Further Reading: Other Poems by Langston Hughes on Inequality in America [edit | edit source]

• "I, As well" (1925). A poem reminiscent of Walt Whitman's celebration of America in poems such every bit "I hear America singing," but written from the point of view of a segregated speaker. Hither is a version where Hughes gives context to the verse form and reads it out loud, with a small-scale modification.
• "Vocal for a Dark Girl" (1927). A verse form mourning the roughshod lynching of a immature black person in Dixieland. Here is the poem turned into song by folk musician Leyla McCalla.
• "An Open Letter of the alphabet to the South" (1932). A plea from a black worker to the white workers of the South to overcome segregation and join forces confronting bosses and owners.
• "Harlem" (1951). Sometimes referred to as "A Dream Deferred," the poem identifies the consequences to the community of Harlem of continually postponing the accomplishment of the American Dream.

"America never was America to me": Educational Inequality in the United States [edit | edit source]

Having read and analyzed Langston Hughes' poem, I empathize that the inequality we see today is not new in America; information technology has been happening for centuries. One major cause and result of this inequality is the American educational organisation, where a kid'south education, and therefore their chances at achieving the American Dream is determined past their socioeconomic status.  In the United States, working class students—mostly Latino and black—perform poorly because their teachers are less prepared, their schools do not have the resources for extracurricular instruction, and their parents do non have the coin or resources to help their children succeed.

Quality teachers are essential in the classroom because when teachers are prepared, they can guide students pace by step in the process of learning, which increases their chances to develop strong habits of studying and succeed in school. However, in America, the less prepared teachers are mostly likely to be sent to poor neighborhoods where students are already struggling with their learning which decreases their chances to graduate from school. What is more, inquiry demonstrates a asymmetric distribution of money, with schools with proficient functioning receiving amend resources.^[3]

Courses Offered in Public High Schools, past School Poverty Level. Public high schools with more students in poverty and smaller schools provide fewer bookish offerings to prepare for higher.

This problem affects the whole school system because teachers with depression resource and salaries often quit their jobs, affecting students' performance, especially on standardized tests. Switching teachers in the classroom creates chaos for students considering they become confused about the changes and autumn backside.^[4] It is clear how the lack of experienced teachers and well-funded schools creates education inequality in America. The authorities could prepare this trouble by creating legislation that improves salaries and resources for all schools so that educators stay in one school and provide quality education, especially for minority students. Having effective teachers in the classroom would help students from working course families increase their test scores and achieve their goals.

Furthermore, students' progress is not dependent only on the hours of instruction but on extra back up similar subsequently school programs or tutoring. Individualized instruction reinforces students' knowledge and increases their ability to improve academically, then students will perform ameliorate on their standardized exam scores which is one of the requirements to earn a scholarship and finish their career. Unfortunately, for Latinos and African American students, there is a limit to how many programs they can participate in to increase their grades. Students who have a low proficiency in reading English are generally placed into special education classrooms or they stay in the same class for the following year, which causes them to lose motivation in school.^[5] Moreover, state legislations and the government ended that because depression-income families are unable to pay tuition their educational activity is negatively impacted, thus increasing the partition between the rich and poor. The research also explains how residents select the corporeality of tax grants for each school when they elect a district board to collect taxes. This plan affects poor neighborhoods because schools with low performance will exist receiving less funding from taxpayers.^[4]  The school arrangement must fix this problem because it is affecting students who have the potential to earn their college degree and be successful in life. Academic development requires a lot of time so students need additional resources like tutors to increase their cognition and improve their grades.

Many working class Black and Latino parents do not have access to essential resources such as books, electronic devices, and access to the Internet which makes it incommunicable for their children to plough in their assignments on fourth dimension. Family size as well affects many minority students; because their families share apartments with other family unit members or strangers, students practise not have enough space to study and complete their assignments.^[3] Having express access to resources leads parents to expect for culling schools where their children could accept enough gratis resources. In recent decades, lease schools accept become a possible pick for these parents because these schools provide food, books and academic support.^[6] It is agonizing to see how Latinos and African American students and their parents do non receive enough support and supplies essential to succeed in school. This makes academic disadvantages and inequality even worse.

Overall, minorities in America with low income, especially Latinos and African American students, do not achieve their goals because educators do have enough experience and resources to provide support for minorities, creating a gap in education. These obstacles cause students to exit schools without a degree. Parents also are not able to provide their children with essential tools like electronic devices which leaves their children backside on their assignments and causes poor performance. The government should accost this effect by creating legislation that equally distributes funds for schools regardless of the students' race or socioeconomic status.

Further Reading: Educational Inequality in the United States [edit | edit source]

• Wikipedia contributors. "Educational inequality in the United States." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. A review of the history and main factors behind educational inequality.
• Gregor Aisch, Amanda Cox, and Kevin Quealy. "You lot Draw It: How Family Income Predicts Children's College Chances." The New York Times. May 28, 2015. An interactive nautical chart that requires the reader to approximate the chances of a child going to college based on her family'south income level before it reveals the correct answer.
• Motoko Rich, Amanda Cox, and Matthew Bloch. "Coin, Race and Success: How Your School District Compares." The New York Times. Apr 29, 2016. A factual analysis of the learning gap based on race and income.
• Keith Meatto. "Withal Dissever, All the same Unequal: Teaching about School Segregation and Educational Inequality." May 2, 2019. The New York Times. Civics lesson plan containing activities to investigate school segregation and educational inequality.
• Cory Turner. "New Studies Prove The Pandemic Highlights Inequality In U.South. Education Organization." All Things Considered. National Public Radio. December 10, 2020. A podcast discussing how the COVID-19 pandemic has widened the learning gap, creating a "lost generation" of low-income kids, by and large from communities of color.
• Clea Simon. "How COVID taught America near inequity in instruction."The Harvard Gazette. July 9, 2021. This article points to possible educational reform now that the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the disparity in educational resources.

References [edit | edit source]

1. ↑ Wikipedia contributors. "Let America be America Again." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Costless Encyclopedia, 16 Mar. 2021. Spider web.
2. ↑ ^{a b} Wikipedia contributors. "Langston Hughes." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Costless Encyclopedia, 16 May. 2021. Web. 24 May. 2021.
3. ↑ ^{a b} Wei, Yehua Dennis et al. "Neighborhood, Race and Educational Inequality." Cities 73 (2018): 1–13. Web.
4. ↑ ^{a b} Mantel, Barbara. "Education Funding." CQ Researcher, 31 Aug. 2018, pp. 705-28,library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/cqresrre2018083100.
5. ↑ Galster, George, Anna Maria Santiago, and Lisa Stack. "Elementary School Difficulties of Depression-Income Latino and African American Youth: The Part of Geographic Context." Journal of Urban Affairs 38.4 (2016): 477–502. Web.
6. ↑ Karaim, Reed. "Race and Teaching." CQ Researcher, 5 Sept. 2014, pp. 721-44, library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/cqresrre2014090500

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