Name
Class
Date
CHAPTER
25
Connecting History and Literature
The Negro Speaks of Rivers
Langston Hughes (1902–1967)
During the 1920s and early 1930s, black writers produced a wealth of literary works, including poems, novels, and plays. In their works, they expressed despair about the treatment of blacks at the hands of white society. They also expressed pride in the rich
cultural heritage of African Americans. In The Negro Speaks of Rivers, Langston Hughes
develops a comparison between rivers and the experience of his people.
As you read, think about the questions below. When you finish reading, answer the
questions on a separate sheet of paper.
1. Where is each of these rivers located: Euphrates River, Congo River, Nile River, Mississippi River?
2. CRITICAL THINKING AND WRITING Drawing Conclusions What do the references to various rivers say about the experience of African Americans?
I’ve known rivers:
I’ve known rivers ancient as the world and older than the flow of
human blood in human veins.
My soul has grown deep like the rivers.
I bathed in the Euphrates when dawns were young.
I built my hut near the Congo and it lulled me to sleep.
I looked upon the Nile and raised the pyramids above it.
I heard the singing of the Mississippi when Abe Lincoln went
down to New Orleans, and I’ve seen its muddy bosom turn all
golden in the sunset.
I’ve known rivers:
Ancient, dusky rivers.
My soul has grown deep like the rivers.
© Prentice-Hall, Inc.
Source: Langston Hughes, Selected Poems of Langston Hughes. New
York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1954.
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Unit 8 / Chapter 25
Connecting History and Literature