202 Poetry for Students

government agencies like the Federal Bureau of In-

vestigation, the NAACP managed from it earliest

years to mount powerful propaganda and legal

challenges to lynching; racist courts and juries; the

exclusion of Blacks from the armed services;

apartheid in public transportation, education, and

housing.”

In spite of these successes of the NAACP, the

black population in the United States was increas-

ingly under attack. Woodrow Wilson, who was

born in the South, proved hostile to black requests

for equality, and soon segregation became official

government policy in offices in Washington, D. C.

When Monroe Trotter led a protest group to meet

with Wilson, the two men became involved in an

exceedingly angry confrontation. Mob violence

was also on the increase. During the years from

1906 to 1920, race riots occurred in cities through-

out the United States. In fact, the summer of 1919

was labeled the “Red Summer” by the poet, James

Weldon Johnson, since riots took place in 25 dif-

ferent cities, leaving over 100 dead and many more

injured. The NAACP organized marches to protest

the violence.

This became another important part of the

NAACP’s role: to publicize the issues facing

blacks. In order to accomplish this, DuBois

founded Crisismagazine, which also provided a fo-

rum for the artistic expression of black writers. For

several decades, it provided a voice of protest, cel-

ebration, and opportunity. Crisismagazine first

published Hughes’ “The Negro Speaks of Rivers”

in 1921.

Critical Overview.

As Hughes’s first published poem, critics view

“The Negro Speaks of Rivers” as the first indica-

tion of the poet’s lifelong themes and concerns. Al-

though most critics now praise his ongoing dedi-

cation to racial struggle, when The Weary Blues,

was published in 1926, critical reactions were

mixed. A number of reviewers, including black in-

tellectuals, questioned whether Hughes’s colloquial

language and racial themes constituted propaganda

or “real art,” oversimplification or clear vision.

Critics do not claim that “The Negro Speaks of

Rivers” is particularly propagandistic, though it

heralds a moralizing tendency in Hughes’s poetry.

This poem, moreover, is sometimes considered one

of his lyrics, and lyrics are often considered non-

political.

Critics regard this poem as a lyric because it

has a first person speaker who expresses a strongly

The Negro Speaks of Rivers

Compare

&

Contrast

• 1921:Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti
  were convicted of murder and sentenced to be
  executed; several observers felt the men were
  judged because of their anarchist politics rather
  than because they were truly guilty.

1997:Governor Michael Dukakis of Massachu-

setts, a liberal Democrat, posthumously par-

doned Sacco and Vanzetti.

2000:Governor Dan Ryan of Illinois, imposed

a moratorium on executions in the state since it

was proved that since 1977 thirteen people who

were sentenced to death were later declared

innocent.

• 1921:Eubie Blake’s Shuffle Alongwas pro-
  duced on Broadway, one of the first black mu-
  sicals to receive widespread public acclaim.

1948:Harry Truman uses one of the songs from

Shuffle Along,“I’m Just Wild About Harry,” as

his theme song in the Presidential campaign.

1999:The NAACP mounted protests against the

television and movie industries for not employ-

ing enough black personnel, both on and off the

screen.