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Overview
Langston Hughes wrote “Let America Be America Again” in 1935, while on a train from New York to Ohio
. The poem comes from a period in Hughes’s life when he wrote and thought a great deal about Communism. Like many Black intellectuals of his time, Hughes felt that Communism represented a legitimate path for ending segregation and other forms of inequality. What resulted from this belief is a poem that emphasizes how class solidarity and collective action can redeem the original promise of America as a land of equality and freedom.Read a summary & analysis, an analysis of the speaker, and explanations of important quotes from “Let America Be America Again.”
