Let America Be America Again

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“Let America Be America Again" was written on 1935 and originally published in Esquire Magazine in 1936. It was revised in 1938 for a collection of Hughes' poems entitled A New Song, which was published by the International Workers Order, an organization with close links to the American Communist Party. The version analyzed here is from the Academy of American Poets website: https://poets.org/poem/let-america-be-america-again.

Analysis

The Statue of Liberty as symbol of the American Dream

The American Dream deferred: The sign “COLORED WAITING ROOM” illustrates Jim Crow in Durham, North Carolina in 1940.

The American Dream represents the liberty and freedom of Americans to pursue what makes them happy. However, this American Dream has not been achievable for everyone. In the 1935 poem “Let America Be America Again,” written when the country was beginning to recuperate from the Great Depression and while Jim Crow segregation was still an everyday fact, Hughes examines the state of the American Dream to expose the cruel reality of inequality and servitude that minorities, the working class, and the poor experience in the United States.

The poem begins with a speaker wishing that America was allowed to live to its ideals of liberty and equality so it can be “the dream the dreamers dreamed” (line 6), that is, “that great strong land of love/Where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme/That any man be crushed by one above” (7-9).

Meanwhile, a second intermixed voice suggests that he has never experienced the American Dream in his life: “America never was America to me” (5). The first speaker, curious, asks the second voice to identify itself, and it responds that it is “the poor white, fooled and pushed apart”(19), “the Negro bearing slavery’s scars”(20), “the red man driven from the land” (21), “the immigrant clutching…hope” (22) “the farmer, bondsman to the soil” (31), “the worker sold to the machine” (32), “the people, humble, hungry, mean” (34), and “the man who never got ahead,/The poorest worker bartered through the years”(37-38). The second voice represents all of those who have been oppressed, work for low wages, or serve others and they never see prosperity or appreciation. They find it difficult to obtain basic necessities such as food and home to feel safe and secure, even though some are hard workers. Their housing, their education, and their health are all second-class. They have been excluded from achieving the American Dream, which for them has been replaced by “the same old stupid plan/Of dog eat dog, of mighty crush the weak” (23-24).

At this point the poem focuses on those powerful people who oppress poor people and never give them an opportunity to demonstrate who they really are and how far they can go with their dreams. They are described as “leeches on the people's lives” (72) because they live off of the work and the hopes of others, giving little in return. They absorb the lifeblood of the workers, leaving them weak and vulnerable. Because minorities and the poor do not have appropriate representation that could protect them from those “blood suckers,” their opportunity to achieve the American Dream disappears.

The speaker ends the poem by swearing an oath: the oppressed of America will ensure that America will live up to its ideals. He knows his demand for action will cause those who are against him to hate him (“sure call me any ugly name you choose”), but he will never give up until the situation changes. He insists that “we must take back our land again” by fighting for the rights all of us should enjoy equally.

In conclusion, Hughes’ speaker demands the American Dream that he has never experienced. He demands that it come not only for him but also for the many working-class families that have passed through situations like his. Even though he wrote this poem more than a century ago, we continue to see how inequality keeps low-class families in the same spot, which leads to the overall poverty in America. One of these inequalities comes from education disparities so that poor and minority students are not getting support to succeed in their lives.

Further Reading: Other Poems by Langston Hughes on Inequality in America

• “I, Too" (1925). A poem reminiscent of Walt Whitman's celebration of America in poems such as "I hear America singing," but written from the point of view of a segregated speaker. Here is a version where Hughes gives context to the poem and reads it out loud, with a small modification.
• “Song for a Dark Girl" (1927). A poem mourning the brutal lynching of a young black person in Dixieland. Here is the poem turned into song by folk musician Leyla McCalla.
• “An Open Letter to the South" (1932). A plea from a black worker to the white workers of the South to overcome segregation and join forces against bosses and owners.
• “Harlem" (1951). Sometimes referred to as "A Dream Deferred," the poem identifies the consequences to the community of Harlem of continually postponing the achievement of the American Dream.

“America never was America to me”: Educational Inequality in the United States

Having read and analyzed Langston Hughes' poem, I understand that the inequality we see today is not new in America; it has been happening for centuries. One major cause and effect of this inequality is the American educational system, where a child’s education, and therefore their chances at achieving the American Dream is determined by their socioeconomic status.  In the United States, working class students—mostly Latino and black—perform poorly because their teachers are less prepared, their schools do not have the resources for extracurricular instruction, and their parents do not have the money or resources to help their children succeed.

Quality teachers are essential in the classroom because when teachers are prepared, they can guide students step by step in the process of learning, which increases their chances to develop strong habits of studying and succeed in school. However, in America, the less prepared teachers are mostly likely to be sent to poor neighborhoods where students are already struggling with their learning which decreases their chances to graduate from school. What is more, research demonstrates a disproportionate distribution of money, with schools with good performance receiving better resources.

Courses Offered in Public High Schools, by School Poverty Level. Public high schools with more students in poverty and smaller schools provide fewer academic offerings to prepare for college.

This problem affects the whole school system because teachers with low resources and salaries often quit their jobs, affecting students' performance, especially on standardized tests. Switching teachers in the classroom creates chaos for students because they become confused about the changes and fall behind. It is clear how the lack of experienced teachers and well-funded schools creates education inequality in America. The government could fix this problem by creating legislation that improves salaries and resources for all schools so that educators stay in one school and provide quality education, especially for minority students. Having effective teachers in the classroom would help students from working class families increase their test scores and achieve their goals.

Furthermore, students' progress is not dependent only on the hours of instruction but on extra support like after school programs or tutoring. Individualized instruction reinforces students’ knowledge and increases their ability to improve academically, so students will perform better on their standardized test scores which is one of the requirements to earn a scholarship and finish their career. Unfortunately, for Latinos and African American students, there is a limit to how many programs they can participate in to increase their grades. Students who have a low proficiency in reading English are mostly placed into special education classrooms or they stay in the same grade for the following year, which causes them to lose motivation in school. Moreover, state legislations and the government concluded that because low-income families are unable to pay tuition their education is negatively impacted, thus increasing the division between the rich and poor. The research also explains how residents select the amount of tax grants for each school when they elect a district board to collect taxes. This plan affects poor neighborhoods because schools with low performance will be receiving less funding from taxpayers.  The school system must fix this problem because it is affecting students who have the potential to earn their college degree and be successful in life. Academic development requires a lot of time so students need additional resources like tutors to increase their knowledge and improve their grades.

Many working class Black and Latino parents do not have access to essential resources such as books, electronic devices, and access to the Internet which makes it impossible for their children to turn in their assignments on time. Family size also affects many minority students; because their families share apartments with other family members or strangers, students do not have enough space to study and complete their assignments. Having limited access to resources leads parents to look for alternative schools where their children could have enough free resources. In recent decades, charter schools have become a possible option for these parents because these schools provide food, books and academic support. It is disturbing to see how Latinos and African American students and their parents do not receive enough support and supplies essential to succeed in school. This makes academic disadvantages and inequality even worse.

Overall, minorities in America with low income, especially Latinos and African American students, do not achieve their goals because educators do have enough experience and resources to provide support for minorities, creating a gap in education. These obstacles cause students to leave schools without a degree. Parents also are not able to provide their children with essential tools like electronic devices which leaves their children behind on their assignments and causes poor performance. The government should address this issue by creating legislation that equally distributes funds for schools regardless of the students’ race or socioeconomic status.

Further Reading: Educational Inequality in the United States

• Wikipedia contributors. "Educational inequality in the United States." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. A review of the history and main factors behind educational inequality.
• Gregor Aisch, Amanda Cox, and Kevin Quealy. "You Draw It: How Family Income Predicts Children’s College Chances." The New York Times. May 28, 2015. An interactive chart that requires the reader to guess the chances of a child going to college based on her family's income level before it reveals the correct answer.
• Motoko Rich, Amanda Cox, and Matthew Bloch. "Money, Race and Success: How Your School District Compares." The New York Times. April 29, 2016. A factual analysis of the learning gap based on race and income.
• Keith Meatto. "Still Separate, Still Unequal: Teaching about School Segregation and Educational Inequality." May 2, 2019. The New York Times. Civics lesson plan containing activities to investigate school segregation and educational inequality.
• Cory Turner. "New Studies Show The Pandemic Highlights Inequality In U.S. Education System." All Things Considered. National Public Radio. December 10, 2020. A podcast discussing how the COVID-19 pandemic has widened the learning gap, creating a "lost generation" of low-income kids, mostly from communities of color.
• Clea Simon. "How COVID taught America about inequity in education."The Harvard Gazette. July 9, 2021. This article points to possible educational reform now that the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the disparity in educational resources.