“The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain” (1926) was a short essay written by poet Langston Hughes for The Nation magazine. It became the manifesto of the Harlem Renaissance. In it Hughes said that black artists in America should stop copying whites, that they will never create anything great that way. Instead they should be proud of who they are, proud to be black, and draw from black culture. Not “white is right” but, as we would now say, “Black is beautiful”.
One day a promising young black poet told him, “I want to be a poet – not a Negro poet.” Which to Hughes was just another way of saying, “I want to be a white poet” or, more to the point, “I want to be white”. Which told Hughes that he would never be great:
For no great poet has ever been afraid of being himself.
But there is more at stake than just great art:
… it is the duty of the younger Negro artist, if he accepts any duties at all from outsiders, to change through the force of his art that old whispering “I want to be white,” hidden in the aspirations of his people, to “Why should I want to be white? I am a Negro – and beautiful”?
The artist, by discovering himself and his people, helps to free their minds.
America tries to make everyone the same – standardization. One size fits all. Blacks are fortunate to the degree that they escape that standardization. It gives the black artist material to draw on that few white artists can.
Yet rich and middle-class blacks wanted to be standardized, wanted to be as white as they could be – in how they looked, dressed, acted, sang and worshipped. They read white books and white magazines, watched white films. They looked down on the blues, spirituals and even jazz. Because “white is best”. Their mothers told them, “Don’t be like niggers” and their fathers said, “Look how well a white man does things.”
They never learned to see their own beauty but instead learned to feel shame about their blackness. And so through their minds whisper the words, “I want to be white.” This is the racial mountain that Hughes said the black artist must climb.
In addition to standardization, the black artist hears this:
- the black middle-class: “Oh, be respectable, write about nice people, show how good we are.”
- whites: “Be stereotyped, don’t go too far, don’t shatter our illusions about you, don’t amuse us too seriously. We will pay you.”
Both would have kept Jean Toomer from writing “Cane” (1923), one of the best works of Black American prose in those days.
Hughes:
We younger Negro artists who create now intend to express our individual dark-skinned selves without fear or shame. If white people are pleased we are glad. If they are not, it doesn’t matter. We know we are beautiful. And ugly too.
See also:
- Langston Huges: “The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain” – read the essay itself
- “Black is beautiful”
- Senghor – reading Hughes helped to lead Senghor to his idea of negritude
- Reading Betsey Brown – makes some of the very same points as Hughes
- internalized racism
- bell hooks: Loving Blackness as Political Resistance
- Negro – the middle-class term for black people back then
Exactly, Eruzle,
Mainstream white America appropriates Black culture without asking us, claiming it as their own. Don’t they have anything original of their own without having to borrow other cultures?
I agree with Langston Hughes about being true to themselves without worrying about white approval.
What are your thoughts?
La Reyna
LikeLike
Black Americans have more cultural sense and have contributed more to American culture than any White American, what little culture white Americans have, come from their European ancestors, so in a sense is not really American culture.
LikeLike
i love langston hughes
LikeLike
@ La Reyna
It’s not just white people it’s alot of people of different ethnicities that does not want to give Black people credit for our culture that has become globalized like for example, hip-hop. You would think that would be easy for people to give credit but its like a freaking rollercoaster to persuade others that Hip-Hop is originated by many Blacks. Once it hits bigs, its no longer ours lol.
LikeLike
Oh yeah I read this Langston Hughes essay last year and was amazed that his words ring so many truths today.
LikeLike
@ Dani: People actually believe that Blacks had nothing to do with hi-hop? What rock have they been hibernating under for the past 30 years?
Peta, their ignorance slays me! Many do not want to admit that other ethnicities later on in Hip-Hop culturally approriated Hip-Hop, not create it.
LikeLike
same thing with jazz music, people will always try to say that white people invented jazz instruments, even though we invented the music to try and discredit us
LikeLike
or the toilet seat, or under water torpedo those were black inventors whoe invented those bet yall didn’t know that
LikeLike
Mainstream white America appropriates Black culture without asking us, claiming it as their own. Don’t they have anything original of their own without having to borrow other cultures?
It is the same thing with Rock and Roll. It started out being a black musical genre and upon its’ success became ‘universal’ when whites singers such as Elvis Preslry(sic) started popularizing it. In fact when he hit the big time, he was criticized for singing n-music(that is exactly how it was referred to as). Stations were known to destroy his music because of this. It was claimed this kind of music would lead to ‘race mixing’.
I am not a fan of poetry as such, but I did enjoy Langston Hughes poem ‘Cross’.
LikeLike
Well, as much as I agree that an artists shouldn’t be ashamed/afraid to show who they are, I must say I get the “I want to be a poet, not a Negro poet”.
Two things before I get to the main point.
First: An artist can’t escape what he or she is. So, why bother? Why trying to hid who you really are? It’s pointless, and your art- and you as an artist- will suffer. Never try to be something that you’re not. Your art must be true to yourself. So, if you are a woman, or black, or anything else- that will show in your art. You should not worry about whether it will show or not.
Second: I hate “default human” label. We all know what default human is. White male. In other words, any “non-labelled” art, any “general” art is, in fact, white male art. To be a poet (as the opposite of Negro poet) is to be white male poet. That’s a bad thing. White males are group of individuals like any other. Just like there is black women art, there is white male art- white male art is not any more “general” and “universal” than any other. That should be noted and remembered.
However, I am against labels and that’s why I understand “I want to be poet, period” sentiment. Art is not collective- it’s individual. Artists are people of a certain gender, race, ethnicity, nationality, political views, sexual preference- and all of that will show in their work; but artists are individuals and their work is unique to them. I hate putting artists- especially “minority” artists into groups. I hate “black writings” label. I hate “women writings” label. To me, it implies that black writers and woman writers are not writers in general sense of the word. And yes, I understand that “general” here is often understood as “white male”, but I am talking what’s the inside, what really matters.
I am a writer (well, an amateur one). I am also a woman, and I live on the Balkans. I do not want my work to be labelled as a “woman writing” or “Eastern European”, or, the worst of all, “Balkan writing”. It doesn’t mean I am ashamed of being all those things. It just means I don’t want my work to be stereotyped. I do not write about the stereotypically female subjects, or stereotypically Balkan subjects, not at all. However, if you are an author from the Balkans, everybody expects you to white about the recent Balkan wars, or, in case of Serbian authors, about the Slobodan Milosevic’s regime. People who write about those things get their books published and they even get the awards for being “great Balkan authors”. I do not write about those things. It doesn’t mean I don’t care about them or that I try to escape being who I am (a Balkan woman)- but I don’t think I should be forced to write about the subjects I am stereotypically expected to.
Same goes for black writers and artists. I don’t think that just because you’re black, you should write about slavery, racism or civil rights movement. Or that if you choose other subjects/genres (SF, for example), that you’re “kissing up to whites” or that you want to be white. The fact you’re black will show in your writings whether you want it or not, and you don’t have to make a special effort in doing it. Because that’s who you are.
A good example is Toni Morrison, one of my favourite writers. I don’t see her as a black woman writer but as a writer- which doesn’t change the fact she is, well, a black woman. The first time I read “Jazz” I didn’t know any of those facts (that the author is a woman, or black)- which doesn’t mean I think those facts about her are not important.
In conclusion, an artist is individual and should not be forced to wear a label if he or she doesn’t want to.
LikeLike
Langston Hughes, I will agree is great. He made very clear points and I love his work. I want to first say that that I didnt read all of the comments, but i glanced through many; which means i may repeat something that has already been said. I just want to say something quick because i am so busy right now.
But let me say that i just dont see the poem as in a sense saying that anything was stolen from African Americans. Which doesnt mean everyone else that does see this theme in this poem is wrong. But I see it for saying, like others did, be who you are. Know that being black is beautiful. One can lose one’s self trying to be like someone else. We have gifts and talents just like everyone else. And i must admit, we let our talents shine. But what i do want to point out is during Hughes time Blacks werent know for being good at anything. WE had to first get out there. Heck for so long whites pretended to be us in order to pretray what talents we have, ex. the tom shows. We had to be est. as people, people with skills, minds, talents. Heck look at all black invented and still somethings we still have gotten credit for. We should not be ashamed of who and what we are. show the world that we are here, smart, ready and willing to caught anything that is thrown at us.
Now on the other hand. Lables do affect us. I see lable for situational purposes. It depends on the situation. For example, would you rather be a the best women writer, the best black women writer or the best writer period…. would you rather be one of the presidents in the united states or the first black or woman president in the united states. Sure maybe we want to be great artists but would we want to be only one of the great black artists or one of the greatest artist of all time period.
However labels only work for certain people. we maybe we wouldnt lable white males much because for so long they had everthing. They didnt have to work as hard to accomplish rights and equality. But blacks did, women did,…..
I just think most times things depend. Often we have to look at things through the poets eyes. But sense we cant most times, We argue and do this. (excuse the errors)
LikeLike
ok….. after some research… i know why hughes said what he said and why he said it how he said it. i can say now that I fully agree with him for this reason or for the reason he said it. 🙂
LikeLike
I recently read this short essay and like the other comments, I thought it was really well written. An artist is someone that can create art from their own aspiration. What would be the point to be an artist if I want to be someone else? When someone knows who they are and where they come from, than they’ll know their true worth.
LikeLike
hughes has written his essay well,almost as if he predicted that the stereotype that “white is right” will still be there in out times now in the 20th century! some black women are still afraid to appreciate their black selves. why should we wear weaves and make up when sometimes it does not even suit us? some women wear blush which is blutently pink and is appplied by white women on their cheeks, imagine on black skin! we apply relaxers to our hair because we want it to be soft like white hair, why?? what is wrong with our original locks and brush cuts? white has colonised our minds and we are the only people who can set those minds free and be able to live with our true selves. black people dont have to be afraid to live with their scars, their past bruises and try to heal by hiding. a true black person is the one who would be called nigger and answer out loud.
LikeLike
I love Langston Hughes, But I thought he had an issue with Zora Neal Hurston’s writing. And she wrote in black vernacular. I was watching OWN network and I heard Tyler Perry and Oprah Winfrey discuss this.
LikeLike
[…] Source of image […]
LikeLike
[…] https://abagond.wordpress.com/2009/10/08/langston-hughes-on-wanting-to-be-white/ Langston Hughes’s article for the Nation Magazine The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain (1926) became the manifesto for the Harlem Renaissance. Here is the essay http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/g_l/hughes/mountain.htm It was true then and is true today. We are still interested in Hughes 1902-1967. Selected Letters of Langston Hughes (Arnold Rampersad & David Roessel eds., Alfred A Knopf 2015) Texas Tech Library PS 3515.U274 Z48 and Langston Hughes, The Weary Blues (1926 collection of poems, reissued Alfred A Knopf 2015) 128 pages. His next collection of poems was published the very next year Fine Clothes to the Jew (1927) Texas Tech Library PS 3515.U274 F5. […]
LikeLike
Reblogged this on Project ENGAGE.
LikeLike