A Long Journey of Hardships

            In his works, Langston Hughes creates a theme of the unrecognized contribution of African Americans to the American society, and their lack of equal rights and opportunities which led them to be abused by the institutions of slavery and segregation. Hughes uses verisimilitude for emphasis on the idea that, although he didn’t personally experience the numerous tragedies and hardships that African Americans went through, it is a collective struggle for all African Americans across America in their fight for equal rights. In “The Negro Speaks of Rivers,” Hughes incorporates the symbol of rivers as a guide through the history of his heritage. He begins with the Euphrates River in Mesopotamia—the cradle of mankind—and continues with the Congo and the Nile. He ends with “the singing of the Mississippi when Abe Lincoln went down to New Orleans…” which hints to the joy brought to African Americans by the Emancipation Proclamation. Although he hasn’t actually known “ancient, dusky rivers,” Hughes uses himself as an embodiment of his ancestors and describes the journey they made throughout history. The ideas that Hughes conveys in his poems through cleverly utilizing the art of verisimilitude compliment the changing ideologies brought by the Harlem Renaissance, showing that African Americans are just as capable as white Americans.