The Negro Speaks of Rivers Resources

Websites

All about "The Negro Speaks of Rivers"

A webpage featuring various scholarly discussions of Hughes’s famous poem.

The Harlem Renaissance

A John Carroll University website dedicated to the Harlem Renaissance

The Harlem Renaissance Exhibit

An exhibition portfolio from the Shomburg Center for Research in Black Culture: The New York Public Library

More on the Harlem Renaissance

A Poets.org guide to the Harlem Renaissance

Riverwalk

A University of Michigan website dedicated to "The Negro Speaks of Rivers."

Video

The River Congo

A preview of a documentary about the Congo.

The Poem Read Aloud

A kind of strange animated video of Hughes reading "The Negro Speaks of Rivers."

Audio

Hear It!
Listen to Langston Hughes read and comment on "The Negro Speaks of Rivers."

Images

The Poet

A picture of Langston Hughes as a young man.

A Portrait of Langston Hughes

Artist Winold Reiss painted a portrait of Langston Hughes, and it hangs in the National Portrait Gallery.

Harlem

A street in Harlem during the Harlem Renaissance

The Crisis

A cover of a 1923 issue of the NAACP’s magazine, The Crisis. "The Negro Speaks of Rivers" was featured in an issue of this magazine in 1921.

President Abraham Lincoln

A portrait of good old Abe.

The Nile

Check out the Nile and the pyramids.

A Map of the Nile

Planning a trip to Egypt? You’ll need this.

The Euphrates

A picture of the Euphrates River.

Mapping the Euphrates

A map of the Euphrates River

The Congo

A picture of the Congo River

A Map of the Congo

A map of the Congo River

The Mississippi

A picture of the Mississippi River

The Mississippi

A map of the Mississippi River

Historical Documents

"The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain" by Langston Hughes

Read an essay by Langston Hughes about the obstacles that artists of color face.

"Poet for a New Generation"

NPR Essayist, Vertamae Grosvenor, discusses Langston Hughes

Books

Langston’s Train Ride by Robert Burleigh
Take a look at this children’s book which tells the tale of Langston Hughes’s journey to Mexico.