Previous Next

The Continuity of Black History

The speaker of Hughes’s poem is keen to emphasize the continuity of Black history by telling an implied narrative of human history. But rather than tracing the development of all humanity, the speaker’s narrative focuses specifically on the development of Black cultures and civilizations across time and space. This history begins with the ancient settlement of the Fertile Crescent, the famed fertility of which was made possible in part by the Euphrates River, mentioned in line 4. The speaker then draws a line from the Middle East through North and Central Africa, referencing two great Black civilizations: Ancient Egypt and the Kingdom of Kongo, which were nourished by the Nile and Congo Rivers, respectively. From here, the speaker shifts to the American South during the time of slavery. On the surface, this shift would seem to mark a rupture in Black history. After all, the speaker has moved from civilizations that centered on Black life and freedom to a society that devalues and denies both. But despite the jarring nature of this shift into the modern era, the speaker implies that there remains a thread of continuity that roots modern Black communities in a much longer history.

The Coherence of Black Cultural Identity

Closely connected to the continuity of Black history is a related theme: the coherence of Black cultural identity. The speaker underscores this theme most clearly in the use of the refrain, “My soul has grown deep like the rivers” (lines 3 and 10). Admittedly, it isn’t initially clear that the phrase “my soul” might apply to more than the speaker alone. But as the speaker goes on to detail how his or her “soul” has developed from personal experience of various rivers throughout historical time, it becomes increasingly evident that the speaker isn’t merely an individual. Rather, the speaker is giving voice to collective knowledge and experience that has been developed continuously across time and space. The “soul” referred to is best understood as belonging collectively to all Black people. Thus, when the speaker closes the poem by repeating, “My soul has grown deep like the rivers,” this is making a claim about the essential coherence of the Black soul. In the twenty-first century, this idea of a single “Black soul” may strike some as offensively reductive. But for Hughes, the notion of a shared “soul” promised a sense of coherence that he believed could help advance the interests of Black people in the United States and elsewhere.

The Promise of Redemption

The themes relating to Black history and Black cultural identity are closely linked to a third theme: the promise of redemption in the wake of slavery. This third theme may at first be difficult to discern, but it arises most clearly at the poem’s crux, which is the extremely long seventh line:

I heard the singing of the Mississippi when Abe Lincoln went down to New Orleans, and I’ve seen its muddy bosom turn all golden in the sunset.

Prior to this line, the speaker has only mentioned rivers associated with civilizations that have centered on Black life. With the reference to the Mississippi, however, the speaker shifts to a time and place defined by slavery and the devaluation of Black life. Initially, this shift to the era of slavery may suggest that Black history and cultural identity are following a general downward trajectory. But Hughes undercuts this notion with the image of the Mississippi waters reflecting the sunset. Though the river’s “muddy bosom” may symbolically reflect all that is morally repulsive and dehumanizing about slavery, the muddiness of the water doesn’t prevent it from reflecting the sunset’s golden radiance. In this way, the speaker sees a glimmer of hope for future redemption. Underscoring this hope further is the allusion to Abraham Lincoln’s historic trip to New Orleans, which provided him with experiences that would eventually convince him to abolish slavery.

Previous section Setting Next section Motifs

Take a Study Break