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Langston Hughes

Langston Hughes Quotes

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Famous Langston Hughes Quotes

“We younger Negro artists who create now intend to express our individual dark-skinned selves without fear or shame. If white people are pleased, we are glad. If they are not, it doesn't matter. We know we are beautiful. And ugly too. The tom-tom cries and the tom-tom laughs. If colored people are pleased, we are glad. If they are not, it doesn't matter either. We build our temples for tomorrow, strong as we know how, and we stand on top of the mountain, free within ourselves.”

PeopleIfsKnowsSelfMatterBeautifulArtistIndividualStrongJusticeDarkWhiteLaughingKnow HowCryTomorrowMountainShameSocial JusticeUglyGladTemplesTomsDark Skinned
Book:The Collected Works of Langston Hughes: Essays on art, race, politics, and world affairs
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“Americans of good-will, the nice decent church people, the well-meaning liberals, the good hearted souls who themselves wouldn't lynch anyone, must begin to realize that they have to be more than passively good-hearted, more than church goingly Christian, and much more than word-of-mouth in the liberalism.”

PeopleWellsSoulChristianRealizingChurchNiceMouthsDecentLiberalismHeartedGood WillGood HeartWord Of MouthAnti RacismGood Hearted
Book:Langston Hughes and the Chicago Defender: Essays on Race, Politics, and Culture, 1942-62
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“Negro writers, just by being black, have been on the blacklist all our lives. Do you know that there are libraries in our country that will not stock a book by a Negro writer, not even as a gift? There are towns where Negro newspapers and magazines cannot be sold except surreptitiously. There are American magazines that have never published anything by Negroes. There are film studios that have never hired a Negro writer. Censorship for us begins at the color line.”

KnowsHas BeensBookCountryFilmBlackLinesOur LivesColorTownsLibraryInjusticeStudiosNewspapersMagazinesOur CountryDo You KnowCensorship
Author:Langston Hughes
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“But there are certain very practical things American Negro writers can do. And must do. There's a song that says, "the time ain't long." That song is right. Something has got to change in America-and change soon. We must help that change to come.”

LongHelpingAmericaCertainSongCan DoPracticalsPractical Things
Book:The Collected Works of Langston Hughes: Essays on art, race, politics, and world affairs
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