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Langston Hughes, “Theme for English B”

Although very different in tone from “Let America Be America Again,” Hughes’s “Theme for English B” is similar for the way it thematically centers the complexity of power dynamics. Specifically, the speaker is coming to terms with the everyday power dynamics that operate in his English class. Furthermore, as his awareness of inequity grows more acute, the speaker recognizes that not all Americans are considered fully—that is, equally—American.

Richard Wright, Native Son

For help understanding the relationship between Black experience and Communism in the 1930s, it’s helpful to read Wright’s 1940 novel, Native Son. This novel, which takes place in Chicago, features several characters who belong to the Communist party. Taken together, these characters offer an analytical perspective on the structural inequity that has created uniquely oppressive conditions for Black people in the United States.

Walt Whitman, “I Hear America Singing”

A comparative reading of Hughes’s poem with Whitman’s “I Hear America Singing” is very fruitful. Most importantly, both poems emphasize the strength of the collective, and they do this in part by featuring a wide array of perspectives from everyday Americans. But whereas Whitman offers a fully celebratory vision of America, Hughes is much more critical.

Langston Hughes, “I, Too”

In this poem, Hughes directly echoes and rebuts Whitman’s “I Hear America Singing,” and for this reason it may be read productively alongside “Let American Be America Again.” In “I, Too,” Hughes offers a riposte to Whitman’s apparently totalizing vision of America, which neglects to mention the extraordinary “contribution” slaves of African descent have made to the nation.

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