In ‘Let America be America Again’, Langston Hughes contrasts the American reality with the American dream to show what America has become and what it was meant to be. America to him meant freedom and equality but it has become the exact opposite and a story of greed, oppression and inequality. Hughes is one of the most important names associated with Harlem Renaissance. He had gained recognition as an imminent poet at an early age of 24 when Du Bose Heyward highlighted his rising stature in one of his articles for the New York Herald Tribune. However, Hughes mostly attracted criticism during his early career. His ‘Let America be America Again’ came in 1936. This poem is a call to turn back and see where we were destined to go and where we have arrived. The poem starts with the mention of a dream of freedom and equality.
