By Carmela, Demi, “On the Blacklist All Our Lives” -

Megan, Mia, Hannah, RJ Langston Hughes

Context
Cold War

● 1947-1991 after
WWII
● United States vs.
Soviet Union
● Democracy vs.
Communism
“Don’t look for physical differences when
you try to spot a Communist.
Communists are all kinds of people in all
walks of life and of all races… When a
Communist goes to work on you, tell him
that you are onto him and his dirty game.
Tell him, further that you think it is your
patriotic duty to make his activities known
to others and to the police.”
Hollywood Blacklist
● 1940’s-1960’s
● House Un-American
Activities Committee -
investigating communist
influence in the U.S.
● Believed film industry held
communists because of
their more liberal politics
● Conducted investigative
hearings on people in
movie industry
 Hollywood Ten
● Challenged committee's
intimidation and
oppression and refused
to cooperate
● Were jailed and fined
● Studios agreed not to
employ them placing
them on a Blacklist
● More and more people
were added until 1960’s
 Civil Rights
Movement
● 1955:
○ Rosa Parks refuses to give up her seat
○ Martin Luther King Jr. begins peaceful boycott
● First victories:
○ End of segregation on schools and buses
(1956)
● 1956:
○ White supremacists bomb homes of civil rights
leaders
○ Emmett Till, 14 year old, shot in the head for
allegedly whistling at a white woman
Audio of Merry Go Round
Poem
http://brbl-
archive.library.yale.edu/exhibitions/langstonhughes/audio/
Track19.mp3
Subject
Langston Hughes explains what it’s
like to be a black author by illustrating
the extreme violence caused by racism
as well as the prejudice of publishing
companies, providing examples of why
people refuse to read/sell works by
black authors while trying to make a
change within his community.

Martin Luther King’s house after bombing

by white supremacists
Occasion
The occasion is the fearful atmosphere in the United States
due to the ongoing Cold War with the Soviet Union leading to
the blacklisting of suspected Communist sympathizers in the
film and literary industries. This also corresponds with the
beginning of the Civil Rights Movement sparking the fight for
racial equality.
Audience
The audience includes all authors to reveal the degree of
prejudice in the United States that continues to be
disregarded through censorship. He also writes to all fellow
writers of color to emphasize that it is time to take a stand
against prejudice and a call to the black community as a time
of change.
Purpose
Hughes’ purpose is to call attention to the prejudice faced by black
writers in order to express the unjustness of the situation and
elaborate that the time for change has come. He sheds light on the
fact that most published black authors are outside of the US
because they chose not to deal with the hate while questioning
where a black person belongs in this country.
Speaker
Langston Hughes is credited as one of
the first authors to write about and
celebrate African American life and
culture, a heavily ignored topic during
that time. He was also one of the leaders
of the Harlem Renaissance, a movement
that helped develop black culture in
literature, art, and music.
 Your Words Quote

“Censorship, the Black List: Negro writers,

Speaker ● Fed-up just by being black have been on the
blacklist all our lives. Do you know there are
● Angry libraries that won’t stock books by Negro
writers?”

“So before the word man, I simply inserted

Speaker’s ● Frustrated black… and the story was accepted. Only a
mild form of racial bias”
Tone ● Determined
“One of the writers I’ve mentioned… said to
me, ‘I don’t want my children to grow up in the
shadow of Jim Crow.’”
Style
● Anaphora to emphasize the struggle of black writers at the time
○ “There are”, “Because the”
● Pathos - short poem illustrates impact of racism on children, connects
to families
● Long, flowing syntax - explains his reasoning
● Grave, somber diction - makes his description of racism more
impactful
○ “Shadow”, “shatter”, “drowned”
Connection to the present day
Although Langston Hughes describes the difficulty and injustices faced by colored writers, it also applied
to the entertainment and film industry. Today, the African American community has made great progress
in the media and entertainment industry. The director and writer of Get Out, Jordan Peele, has recently
made history at the Oscars for being the first African American to take home the Best Original Screenplay
trophy. Another movie making history is Black Panther. It earned $292 million in its first week setting the
record for the highest earning Marvel film in its first week. It is also in fourth place among all top-earning
movies in just one week behind The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi and Jurassic World. This is holds so
much significance because it is a Africa-centric film presenting the first black superhero in the Marvel
cinematic universe with an African-American director, African-American writers, African-American
musicians and many other African-American creative decision-makers and artists behind the scenes. The
film industry still holds much racism, just like the racism in the 1950s against colored writers, so these
accomplishments are huge steps forward for the black community.
 Connection to the present- Jordan Peele
https://www.cbsnews.com/videos/jordan-peele-makes-oscar-history-with-best-original-screenplay-win/
Connection to
the present
day- Black
Panther