"Freedom Train": More Than Document Transportation

Paper Summary:

Offers biographical information on Hughes and how his experiences as a black man during the Harlem Renaissance influenced his poem, "Freedom Train." This paper uses direct examples from his poem, as well as scholarly sources, to prove "Freedom Train" was influenced by his experience of the Harlem Renaissance.

From the Paper:

"From 1947 to 1949, a red, white, and blue train barreled across the United States ("Freedom"). Inside its cars were centuries of documents, including Thomas Jefferson's draft of the Declaration of Independence. On September 17, 1947, the train picked up its first passengers in Philadelphia, Pa. Langston Hughes could not help wondering if he and his fellow African Americans would be allowed to ride this "Freedom Train." Hughes was born in 1902, in Joplin, Missouri, but lived many places during his lifetime, including Cleveland, Ohio, and New York City ("Hughes"). According to Sundiata Cha-Jua, Hughes' work was produced in part during the Harlem Renaissance and, in later years, in response to it (53). Harlem Renaissance writers during the 1920's through 1940's were responding to the social problems of "housing, health, education, and crime," as noted by Saunders Redding (95). African Americans were now beginning to form organizations to achieve recognition as productive, equal human beings (95)."

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