„Ich schwöre beim Herrn // Ich verstehe immer noch nicht // Warum Demokratie alle einschließt // Außer mir.“
The Black Man Speaks, Jim Crow's Last Stand, 1943
Zitate von Langston Hughes
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Langston Hughes
Geburtstag: 1. Februar 1902
Todesdatum: 22. Mai 1967
Andere Namen: لنقستون هیوز, James Langston Hughes
James Langston Hughes war ein Dichter und US-amerikanischer Schriftsteller der afroamerikanischen Künstlerbewegung Harlem Renaissance. Sein Gedicht I, Too, Sing America wurde zu einer Ikone der Bürgerrechtsbewegung.Hughes war „unfortunately“ , wie er selber sagte, nicht schwarz, sondern relativ hellhäutig. Unter seinen weißen Vorfahren befanden sich neben zahlreichen anderen der englische Dichter Francis Quarles , ein jüdischer Sklavenhändler sowie ein französischer Kaufmann. Hughes’ schwarze Vorfahren waren Sklaven, die sich mit Indianern aus dem Stamm der Irokesen vermischt hatten.
Zitate Langston Hughes
„Sehen Sie, unglücklicherweise bin ich nicht schwarz. Es gibt viele verschiedene Sorten Blut in unserer Familie. Aber hier in den Vereinigten Staaten verwendet man das Wort ‚Neger’, um jene zu bezeichnen, die überhaupt Negerblut in ihren Adern haben. In Afrika ist das Wort reiner. Es bedeutet ganz Neger, deshalb schwarz. Ich bin braun. Mein Vater hatte ein dunkleres Braun. Meine Mutter ein Olivgelb.“
The Collected Works of Langston Hughes, Band 13, Autobiographie: The Big Sea, Verleger: University of Missouri, 2002, S. 36, ISBN 082621410X.
Original: You see, unfortunately, I am not black. There are lots of different kinds of blood in our family. But here in the United States, the word “Negro” is used to mean anyone who has any Negro blood at all in his veins. In Africa, the word is more pure. It means all Negro, therefore black. I am brown. My father was a darker brown. My mother an olive-yellow.
„Haltet an Euren Träumen fest // Denn wenn die Träume sterben // Ist das Leben ein Vogel mit gebrochen Flügeln // Der nicht fliegen kann.“
Dreams, Golden Slippers, Arna Bontemps, 1941
„Hold fast to dreams
For if dreams die
Life is a broken-winged bird
That cannot fly.“
"Dreams," from the anthology Golden Slippers: An Anthology of Negro Poetry for Young Readers, ed. Arna Bontemps (1941)
„Humor is laughing at what you haven't got when you ought to have it.“
"A Note on Humor", from The Book of Negro Humor https://books.google.com/books?id=60FkAAAAMAAJ&focus=searchwithinvolume&q=%22Humor+is+laughing+at+what+you+haven%27t+got+when+you+ought+to+have+it.%22, p. vii (1966)
„What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?“
"Harlem"
Montage of a Dream Deferred (1951)
Kontext: What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore —
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over —
like a syrupy sweet? Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load. Or does it explode?
„The steel of freedom does not stain.
From those who live like leeches on the people's lives,
We must take back our land again,
America!“
Let America Be America Again (1935)
Kontext: Sure, call me any ugly name you choose —
The steel of freedom does not stain.
From those who live like leeches on the people's lives,
We must take back our land again,
America!
„I, too, sing America.
I am the darker brother.“
"I, Too, Sing America," in the magazine Survey Graphic (March 1925); reprinted in Selected Poems (1959)
Kontext: I, too, sing America.
I am the darker brother.
They send me to eat in the kitchen
When company comes,
But I laugh,
And eat well,
And grow strong.
„You are white —
yet a part of me, as I am a part of you.“
"Theme from English B"
Montage of a Dream Deferred (1951)
Kontext: You are white —
yet a part of me, as I am a part of you.
That’s American.
Sometimes perhaps you don’t want to be a part of me.
Nor do I often want to be a part of you.
But we are, that’s true!
As I learn from you,
I guess you learn from me —
although you’re older — and white —
and somewhat more free.
„Well, I like to eat, sleep, drink, and be in love.
I like to work, read, learn, and understand life.
I like a pipe for a Christmas present,
or records — Bessie, bop, or Bach.
I guess being colored doesn’t make me not like
the same things other folks like who are other races.“
"Theme from English B"
Montage of a Dream Deferred (1951)
