Comparing Hughes And Countee Cullen

Synthesis Essay From 1916- 1920, The Harlem Renaissance was a time when millions of African Americans migrated up North in America to bigger cities such as New York. Within these big cities, specifically in boroughs such as Harlem, the large population of African Americans allowed for the arts, music, and literature to flourish, creating a rich and vibrant culture. Authors of the time such as Langston Hughes and Countee Cullen fought to break the racial barrier through their writing, expressing their emotions about the time and segregation through their poetry. “I, Too” written by Langston Hughes, and “Tableau”, written by Countee Cullen used voice and imagery to suggest that the way that people of the time saw themselves was more important …show more content…
In “Tableau”, author Countee Cullen used imagery to describe to reactions of others to the oblivion of the youth regarding the color of their skin. When illustrating the event of youth desegregation, Cullen writes “Locked arm in arm they cross the way / oblivious to look and word” (1, 9-10). Here, the author is describing the fact that children of the time were impervious to the fact that skin color was supposed to determine the value of someone. Children during the time were obviously aware of what was going on. White children, since they first could understand words, were instilled with the belief that African Americans were not to be socialized with unless you were of dark skin yourself. In Cullen's writing she speaks of how the two children see each other as people and not for the color of their skin. You can clearly picture these two walking down the street together walking with their chins up and smiles on their faces. Neither of them had a care in the world regarding what people thought, they only cared that they had a friend, no matter the color of their skin. Authors of the Harlem Renaissance knew that if they wished to see a change in the way their culture was treated, the younger generations were the ones who could truly make a

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