The poem "Harlem" by Langston Hughes is considered by a vast majority to be a milestone in the cultural revolution of African Americans. As many know, Hughes began his career in the 1920s, the beginning of the Harlem Renaissance. In this particular poem, Hughes speaks for many of the African Americans at the time by simply asking his first line, “What happens to a dream deferred?”
The cultural revolution might have given more African Americans a chance to express their views and be heard in the world, however some of their dreams were still not expressed because of constant oppression. The poem then delves even deeper into the struggles of African Americans at the time by describing what happened to the dreams of those people. At first, the thought of a dream drying up like a raisin doesn’t sound too realistic to most of us, however after some thought, it seems to have a strong connection with the topic at hand.
Although many might say that this poem is not true because of its abstract nature, Harlem formed a strong connection to the struggling people of color almost a century ago and still maintains a strong emotional tie to many people in the present day and clearly represents the struggles that African Americans facing in the 1920s and on.
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