MERRY-GO-ROUND by Langston Hughes (1902-1967)
colored child at carnival:
Where is the Jim Crow section
On this merry-go-round,
Mister, cause I want to ride?
Down South where I come from
White and colored
Can’t sit side by side.
Down South on the train
There’s a Jim Crow car.
On the bus we’re put in the back–
But there ain’t no back
To a merry-go-round!
Where’s the horse
For a kid that’s black?
It wasn’t like young Langston Hughes to get into trouble. But, in 1914, when his seventh-grade teacher moved him and the other African-American students into a separate row in class, he got angry. So he put cards that read “JIM CROW ROW” on the black kids’ desks. He was soon expelled. But a protest rose up among the parents and Langston was eventually allowed to return to school. He had fought back and won a victory: separate seating in his school was no longer permitted.
Readers, you might also enjoy: Langston Hughes: When Sue Wears Red.
My favorite “fun” Langston Hughes is “Harlem Beauties”. Almost anyone can write a poem. It take a genius to write a list and fill it with meaning.
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Oops
Harlem Sweeties
http://www.poetryfoundation.org/archive/poem.html?id=177389
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I must check it out!
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hi my name is aiyanna (i.yanna) i am in the 7th grade i love socail studies other kids in my class hate it but i say o well who dosent wanna learn about our past , history. i doo who knows we might need it some day and plus i wanna be smthing in life some people dont but hay i cant wrry bout them thx 4 reading bye
socail studies loves yanni
lolxz
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Yanni, thanks for writing!
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