Langston Hughes first published “Theme for English B” in 1951. This free-verse poem takes the form of a short dramatic monologue, the speaker of which is a 22-year-old Black man who lives in Harlem and is enrolled as a student at Columbia University. The poem opens with the speaker recounting a writing prompt assigned by his white English teacher. The prompt instructs students to draft a single page of writing. The teacher offers no guidance about the subject matter to be written. The only requirement is as follows: “let that page come out of you— / Then, it will be true” (lines 4–5). The speaker walks home to his apartment at the Harlem YMCA, where he contemplates his response. At first, he struggles to figure out what to say. This struggle reflects a larger confusion about his own sense of racial identity and belonging, particularly as a Black man at a prestigious, mostly white university. He eventually concludes that racial difference is not the most important factor in shaping a life, since people of different races influence each other in mutual ways. Even so, he recognizes the unfair imbalance of power that makes his teacher “somewhat more free” (line 40) than him.

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