The Poem Merry Go Round By Langston Hughes - 1357 Words

Around and Around In the poem, Merry-Go-Round by Langston Hughes, the first line exhbits a child asking the question, â€Å"Where is the Jim Crow section?† ( Hughes, 1). This line refers to the Jim Crow of the South that was established during the late 1800s to the 1960s. After the Civil War, freed slaves were given opportunities to become real class citizens. Many White Southerners did not like the fact that freed slaves were given the same rights as them and were using the same facilities, too. The name Jim Crow was created by a minstrel show performer from New York named Thomas D. Rice. Rice would wear â€Å"tattered clothing, burnt cork, and blackface mask† to disguise himself as poor Black person (Huser Sanders). He was supposedly imitating a black slave dancing, who he had met one day. His show, which imitated and perpetrated stereotypes of black people, became very popular with White people of the North and South. White people started believing these stereotypes about Black peopl e and used it to justify how superior they were (Huser Sander). Jim Crow law was a form of a racial caste system that was common throughout the Southern part of the United States (Pilgrim, p1). Jim Crow laws helped settle the â€Å"separate, but equal† belief on public facilities such as restrooms, restaurants, and schools for both Black and White citizens. Even though the laws said, â€Å"separate but equal,† a lot of time the public facilities for black citizens were subpar. The narrator of this poem isShow MoreRelatedThe Black Man and Langston Hughes1601 Words   |  7 Pagesthrough heritage, tradition, and folk traditions. Langston Hughes to me has been nourishing the black sensibility and inspiring it to create Afro American literation and transforming it into a â€Å"literature of struggle.† The poetry of Langston Hughes has the theme of â€Å" I, too sing America† He made extraordinary contributions to American literature and has came to be regarded as a leading voice in the Renaissance of the arts in the 1920’s. Hughes growing up asked the same question to himself ofRead MoreIdentity in the Poetry of Langston Hughes2807 Words   |  12 PagesSearch for Identity in the Poetry of Langston Hughes In exploring the problem of identity in Black literature we find no simple or definite explanation. Nevertheless, it is generally accepted that it is rooted in the reality of the discriminatory social system in America with its historic origins in the institution of slavery. One can discern that this slavery system imposes a double burden on the Negro through severe social and economic inequalities and through the heavy psychological consequencesRead MoreA Critical Analysis Of Langston Hughes Merry Go Round1789 Words   |  8 Pages A Critical Analysis of Langston Hughes’ â€Å"Merry-Go-Round† â€Å"Where Is The Jim Crow Section† Langston Hughes (1942) A little boy, accompanied by his mother, holds a ticket as he looks excitedly at a county fair’s carnival ride. As they get closer to the merry-go-round, he anticipates all the fun he will have, but then a puzzled look crosses his face.â€Å"Merry-Go-Round† by Langston Hughes criticizes the Jim Crow laws in the U.S. The justice system of Jim Crow were state and local lawsRead More Search for Identity in the Poetry of Langston Hughes Essay2704 Words   |  11 PagesSearch for Identity in the Poetry of Langston Hughes In exploring the problem of identity in Black literature we find no simple or definite explanation. Nevertheless, it is generally accepted that it is rooted in the reality of the discriminatory social system in America with its historic origins in the institution of slavery. One can discern that this slavery system imposes a double burden on the Negro through severe social and economic inequalities and through the heavy psychological consequencesRead MoreRacial Segregation And The Civil Rights Movement837 Words   |  4 Pagessegregation. Jim Crow Laws defined times of racial segregation through isolation and unfair treatment. The first way the Jim Crow Laws defined times of racial segregation was through isolation. The human race today will never know what it was really like to go through times like this. Blacks were isolated from almost everything, especially sitting with whites, talking to whites, and going the same places as whites. For instance, in the Encyclopedia Britannica on the Jim Crow Laws it states, From the lateRead MoreChildrens Literature13219 Words   |  53 Pagesthen children’s literature is defined by audience in a way other literature tends not to be (Hunt 1999). Yet if we argue that a recognizable children’s literature requires a recognizable childhood, then children’s literature as a formal category would go back only as far as the eighteenth century when the concept of â€Å"childhood† was philosophically created. Childrens literature comprises those texts that have been written specifically for children and those texts that children have selected to read