Books About the American Dream Let America Be America Again

Text [edit | edit source]

"Let America Be America Once more" by Langston Hughes. This verse form was written on 1935 and originally published in Esquire Magazine in 1936. It was revised in 1938 for a collection of Hughes' poems entitled A New Song, which was published by the International Workers Guild, an organization with shut links to the American Communist Political party.^[ane] The version analyzed here is from the Academy of American Poets website. Here is the verse form every bit performed by Aldo Billingslea.

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Langston Hughes was an African-American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist who examined life in The states during the first part of the 20th Century, exposing oppression, bigotry, and inequality. Hughes was born on February 1, 1902 in Joplin, Missouri. After Hughes' parents divorced, he began living with his grandmother, Mary Langston, who encouraged him to sympathise the importance of racial bug in America, so he dedicated much of his piece of work to celebrating African American culture. The difficult experiences that he went through at a immature age like growing up during a time of segregation motivated him to write poems while he was at grammar school. Later, while Hughes attended Central High Schoolhouse in Ohio, his Latin teacher taught him the importance of writing literature so he began writing for the newspaper and yearbook. He began writing brusk stories considering books helped him escape from the hardships that he experienced. At the age of seventeen, he wrote his first poem chosen "When Sue Wears Red."^[2]

In the 1920s, Hughes became one of the leaders of the Harlem Renaissance, a congregation of African American artistic, intellectual, and political talent centered in the neighborhood of Harlem, New York. He became famous for defending racial integration around the globe, peculiarly with younger generations of Black writers, who considered Hughes as a defender of minorities' rights. Ane case in indicate was his encouragement of Black Americans to join World War II because he believed it would assist them obtain ceremonious rights at a time of racial segregation in the United States. Hughes died on May 22, 1967 in Stuyvesant Polyclinic in New York City.^[2]

Analysis [edit | edit source]

The Statue of Freedom equally symbol of the American Dream

The American Dream deferred: The sign "COLORED WAITING ROOM" illustrates Jim Crow in Durham, North Carolina in 1940.

The American Dream represents the liberty and liberty of Americans to pursue what makes them happy. However, this American Dream has not been achievable for anybody. In the 1935 verse form "Let America Be America Again," written when the country was beginning to recuperate from the Great Depression and while Jim Crow segregation was still an everyday fact, Hughes examines the state of the American Dream to betrayal the cruel reality of inequality and servitude that minorities, the working course, and the poor experience in the United States.

The poem begins with a speaker wishing that America were allowed to live to its ideals of freedom and equality so it can be "the dream the dreamers dreamed" (line 6), that is, "that great strong land of dear/Where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme/That whatsoever man be crushed by i above" (7-ix).

Meanwhile, a second intermixed voice suggests that he has never experienced the American Dream in his life: "America never was America to me" (v). The first speaker, curious, asks the second vox to identify itself, and information technology responds that information technology is "the poor white, fooled and pushed apart"(nineteen), "the Negro bearing slavery'south scars"(20), "the cherry-red homo driven from the land" (21), "the immigrant clutching…hope" (22) "the farmer, bondsman to the soil" (31), "the worker sold to the machine" (32), "the people, humble, hungry, hateful" (34), and "the man who never got ahead,/The poorest worker bartered through the years"(37-38). The 2d voice represents all of those who accept been oppressed, work for low wages, or serve others and they never meet prosperity or appreciation. They find it difficult to obtain basic necessities such as food and dwelling house to feel prophylactic and secure, even though some are hard workers. Their housing, their educational activity, and their health are all 2nd-grade. They accept been excluded from achieving the American Dream, which for them has been replaced by "the aforementioned onetime stupid plan/Of dog eat dog, of mighty crush the weak" (23-24).

At this indicate the verse form focuses on those powerful people who oppress poor people and never give them an opportunity to demonstrate who they really are and how far they tin can become with their dreams. They are described as "leeches on the people'southward lives" (72) because they live off of the work and the hopes of others, giving little in return. They absorb the lifeblood of the workers, leaving them weak and vulnerable. Because minorities and the poor practice non accept appropriate representation that could protect them from those "blood suckers," their opportunity to achieve the American Dream disappears.

The speaker ends the poem by swearing an oath: the oppressed of America will ensure that America will live upward to its ideals. He knows his demand for action will crusade those who are against him to detest him ("certain call me any ugly name you lot choose"), merely he will never requite up until the situation changes. He insists that "we must take back our land over again" by fighting for the rights all of us should enjoy equally.

In conclusion, Hughes' speaker demands the American Dream that he has never experienced. He demands that it come not only for him just besides for the many working grade families that take passed through situations similar his. Even though he wrote this verse form more than a century ago, nosotros continue to meet how inequality keeps low-class families in the same spot, which leads to the overall poverty in America. One of these inequalities comes from education disparities and so that poor and minority students are not getting support to succeed in their lives.

Further Reading: Other Poems by Langston Hughes on Inequality in America [edit | edit source]

• "I, Likewise" (1925). A poem reminiscent of Walt Whitman's celebration of America in poems such as "I hear America singing," but written from the point of view of a segregated speaker. Here is a version where Hughes gives context to the poem and reads it out loud, with a small modification.
• "Song for a Dark Girl" (1927). A poem mourning the brutal lynching of a young black person in Dixieland. Here is the verse form turned into song by folk musician Leyla McCalla.
• "An Open Letter of the alphabet to the Due south" (1932). A plea from a black worker to the white workers of the South to overcome segregation and join forces confronting bosses and owners.
• "Harlem" (1951). Sometimes referred to as "A Dream Deferred," the verse form identifies the consequences to the community of Harlem of continually postponing the achievement of the American Dream.

"America never was America to me": Educational Inequality in the United States [edit | edit source]

Having read and analyzed Langston Hughes' verse form, I sympathize that the inequality nosotros see today is not new in America; it has been happening for centuries. Ane major crusade and effect of this inequality is the American educational system, where a child'southward pedagogy, and therefore their chances at achieving the American Dream is determined by their socioeconomic status.  In the United States, working class students—generally Latino and black—perform poorly because their teachers are less prepared, their schools practise not take the resources for extracurricular instruction, and their parents exercise not have the money or resources to help their children succeed.

Quality teachers are essential in the classroom considering when teachers are prepared, they can guide students step by step in the procedure of learning, which increases their chances to develop stiff habits of studying and succeed in schoolhouse. However, in America, the less prepared teachers are mostly likely to be sent to poor neighborhoods where students are already struggling with their learning which decreases their chances to graduate from schoolhouse. What is more, research demonstrates a disproportionate distribution of money, with schools with practiced performance receiving better resource.^[iii]

Courses Offered in Public High Schools, by School Poverty Level. Public high schools with more students in poverty and smaller schools provide fewer academic offerings to set up for higher.

This problem affects the whole school system considering teachers with low resources and salaries frequently quit their jobs, affecting students' performance, especially on standardized tests. Switching teachers in the classroom creates chaos for students because they become confused about the changes and fall behind.^[four] It is clear how the lack of experienced teachers and well-funded schools creates educational activity inequality in America. The government could set this problem by creating legislation that improves salaries and resources for all schools so that educators stay in one schoolhouse and provide quality education, especially for minority students. Having effective teachers in the classroom would help students from working class families increase their exam scores and achieve their goals.

Furthermore, students' progress is not dependent merely on the hours of instruction but on extra support like afterward school programs or tutoring. Individualized instruction reinforces students' knowledge and increases their power to improve academically, then students volition perform better on their standardized test scores which is i of the requirements to earn a scholarship and finish their career. Unfortunately, for Latinos and African American students, in that location is a limit to how many programs they can participate in to increase their grades. Students who have a low proficiency in reading English are more often than not placed into special education classrooms or they stay in the same grade for the following year, which causes them to lose motivation in schoolhouse.^[v] Moreover, state legislations and the government concluded that because depression-income families are unable to pay tuition their education is negatively impacted, thus increasing the division between the rich and poor. The research also explains how residents select the amount of revenue enhancement grants for each school when they elect a district lath to collect taxes. This plan affects poor neighborhoods because schools with low performance will be receiving less funding from taxpayers.^[4]  The school system must ready this problem considering it is affecting students who have the potential to earn their college degree and be successful in life. Academic development requires a lot of fourth dimension so students need boosted resources like tutors to increase their knowledge and meliorate their grades.

Many working class Blackness and Latino parents exercise non take access to essential resources such as books, electronic devices, and admission to the Net which makes it incommunicable for their children to plow in their assignments on time. Family size likewise affects many minority students; because their families share apartments with other family members or strangers, students practise not have enough space to written report and complete their assignments.^[3] Having limited access to resources leads parents to look for culling schools where their children could take enough gratis resources. In recent decades, charter schools have become a possible pick for these parents considering these schools provide food, books and academic support.^[6] It is agonizing to run into how Latinos and African American students and their parents practise not receive plenty support and supplies essential to succeed in school. This makes academic disadvantages and inequality even worse.

Overall, minorities in America with low income, peculiarly Latinos and African American students, do not achieve their goals because educators do have enough feel and resources to provide back up for minorities, creating a gap in education. These obstacles cause students to exit schools without a caste. Parents besides are not able to provide their children with essential tools like electronic devices which leaves their children backside on their assignments and causes poor performance. The regime should address this issue by creating legislation that equally distributes funds for schools regardless of the students' race or socioeconomic condition.

Further Reading: Educational Inequality in the United States [edit | edit source]

• Wikipedia contributors. "Educational inequality in the Us." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. A review of the history and main factors behind educational inequality.
• Gregor Aisch, Amanda Cox, and Kevin Quealy. "You Describe It: How Family Income Predicts Children's College Chances." The New York Times. May 28, 2015. An interactive chart that requires the reader to guess the chances of a child going to higher based on her family'due south income level before it reveals the right reply.
• Motoko Rich, Amanda Cox, and Matthew Bloch. "Money, Race and Success: How Your Schoolhouse District Compares." The New York Times. Apr 29, 2016. A factual analysis of the learning gap based on race and income.
• Keith Meatto. "Nonetheless Split up, Nevertheless Diff: Teaching well-nigh School Segregation and Educational Inequality." May 2, 2019. The New York Times. Civics lesson plan containing activities to investigate schoolhouse segregation and educational inequality.
• Cory Turner. "New Studies Show The Pandemic Highlights Inequality In U.S. Education System." All Things Considered. National Public Radio. December 10, 2020. A podcast discussing how the COVID-19 pandemic has widened the learning gap, creating a "lost generation" of low-income kids, mostly from communities of color.
• Clea Simon. "How COVID taught America about inequity in educational activity."The Harvard Gazette. July ix, 2021. This article points to possible educational reform now that the COVID-xix pandemic has exacerbated the disparity in educational resources.

References [edit | edit source]

1. ↑ Wikipedia contributors. "Permit America be America Once again." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Gratuitous Encyclopedia, xvi Mar. 2021. Spider web.
2. ↑ ^{a b} Wikipedia contributors. "Langston Hughes." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, sixteen May. 2021. Web. 24 May. 2021.
3. ↑ ^{a b} Wei, Yehua Dennis et al. "Neighborhood, Race and Educational Inequality." Cities 73 (2018): ane–13. Web.
4. ↑ ^{a b} Mantel, Barbara. "Teaching Funding." CQ Researcher, 31 Aug. 2018, pp. 705-28,library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/cqresrre2018083100.
5. ↑ Galster, George, Anna Maria Santiago, and Lisa Stack. "Elementary School Difficulties of Low-Income Latino and African American Youth: The Role of Geographic Context." Journal of Urban Affairs 38.4 (2016): 477–502. Web.
6. ↑ Karaim, Reed. "Race and Education." CQ Researcher, v Sept. 2014, pp. 721-44, library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/cqresrre2014090500

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Source: https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Themes_in_Literature/Isolation_and_Community/Let_America_Be_America_Again

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