The negro artist and the racial mountain was an essay written in response to "The Negro Art Hokum" written by George S. Schyler.
Explanation:
In 1926, Langston Hughes wrote an essay The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain. In his essay, Hughes presents a situation where the African Americans felt inferior in their state black people and their culture and strove to embrace the culture of the whites. He did this by use of the African American poet who saw it good to be a white poet. During this time, the White people despised and looked down on the black people. Therefore, the blacks understood that it was better to be a white man or a white writer.
In “The Negro-Art Hokum”, Schuyler presents us with a view from the standpoint of an ‘Africamerican’ writer. His perspective is one that denounces the separatism in what is widely accepted as art in the society of the day. His central theme is about the similarities of Blacks and Whites. Another obvious theme is the theory that Blacks use the “race card” to separate themselves thus finding that the art of the Harlem Renaissance is unlike any art forms on the scene; especially considering the trials and tribulations that most had to go through to have their art in the mainstream at the time. It was a substantial amount of “race pride” that Schuyler obviously didn’t feel was necessary. A totally opposite perspective of Hughes' essay where race is a fundamental factor to someone being recognize as an artist and their work as art.
