1. THE NEGRO SPEAKS
OF RIVERS
by Langston Hughes

2. Langston Hughes (1902-1967) was an African American writer
who is best-known for his work during the Harlem renaissance.
Hughes and his fellows tried to depict the "low-life" in their art,
that is, the real lives of blacks in the lower social-economic
strata. They criticized the divisions and prejudices based on
skin color within the black community.
Hughes was unashamedly black at a time when blackness
was démodé. He stressed the theme of "black is beautiful" as
he explored the black human condition in a variety of depths.
His main concern was the uplift of his people, whose
strengths, resiliency, courage, and humor he wanted to record
as part of the general American experience. His poetry and
fiction portrayed the lives of the working class blacks in
America, lives he portrayed as full of struggle, joy, laughter,
and music. Permeating his work is pride in the African-
American identity and its diverse culture.
The poem “The Negro speaks of Rivers” is his signature poem.

3. THE NEGRO SPEAKS
OF RIVERS
by Langston Hughes

4. I've known rivers:
I've known rivers ancient as the world
and older than the flow of human blood in human
veins.
My soul has grown deep like the rivers.

5. I bathed in the Euphrates when dawns were young.
I built my hut near the Congo and it lulled me to
sleep.
I looked upon the Nile and raised the pyramids above
it.

6. I heard the singing of the Mississippi when Abe
Lincoln went down to New Orleans, and I've seen
its muddy bosom turn all golden in the sunset

7. I've known rivers:
Ancient, dusky rivers.
My soul has grown deep like the rivers.

8. Reflect on the following question:
How can you preserve your cultural
heritage in the face of globalization
which drives you to embrace the new
world, the mainstream culture in order to
survive?
Present a specific solution or
recommendation on how to achieve this.
(4-5 members)

9. REMINDER: (due on Monday)
Journal writing: Write a reflection essay about
racial and cultural pride using the poems we
have discussed as context. You may also
relate the situations in these poems to our own
conditions in the Philippines.