In every stage and period in history, the black American is present, as demonstrated in the line of imagery repeatedly used in the poem, "My soul has grown deep like the rivers."
The poem portrays the Negro as the cause rather than effect of human civilization. "The Negro" is a historical narrative of the life of the black American. Evidently, he had been present where human civilization thrived. Thus, human society in general has the obligation to preserve the race where humanity has possibly originated or came from. The black American race traces its roots from humanity's earliest peoples, and it is through them that humanity can learn more from their past and hence, they can appreciate the present and their future better because of these direct descendants of the earliest humans on earth. Put in the historical context, pure imagery and symbolism in "The Negro" gains deeper meaning, relevance, and significance to the reader.
However, it is important to note that the poem is also put in the political context that Hughes had been put in during his time. The poem, though written in a purely historical context, can also be interpreted as an attempt to create awareness to the reader about the regretfully sorry plight of the black American race as it embarks in a new period and society -- that is, the period of intellectual and material progress, modernism.
It becomes apparent in the poem that Hughes feels threatened with the emergence of modernism, fearing that the black American heritage will be erased from the hearts and minds of black Americans, specifically, and humanity, generally. For him, the prevalence of modernism marks the further dominance of the white American, which means marginalization of the black Americans would prevail, and perhaps, become tolerated, in the same way that black slavery became a legitimate practice in the 18th and 19th centuries.
In line with this argument, Higgins (1988) supports the claim about Hughes being averse about the promise and eventual effects of modernism to humanity, and most especially, to the black American society. He contends that Hughes considers modernism as "intellectually pretentious," a period and movement in history wherein humanity loses its significance, and the Negro society being put in danger of 'social extinction,' which means the eventual loss of the heritage and culture of the African race. For Hughes, humanity can only realize its full potential is he or she uses his/her skills and talents rather than leaving humanity's plight to science, technology, and development,...
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