Seeking roots of discrimination

Intermediate Examination Paper from the year 2002 in the subject American Studies - Culture and Applied Geography grade: 17 Humboldt-University of Berlin (Department of English and American Studies) course: Introduction to US Cultural Science II: The Thirties language: English abstract: Although much of Langston Hughes's and Richard Wright's writing expressed social protest there is one genre -the essay- that has gone largely unnoticed.In the eyes of Hughes and Wright custom tradition and religion may be seen as some of the root causes of racism because they are largely interiorized but they by far cannot serve alone as satisfying explanations for it. Important in the creation of racism is e.g. the negative projection of colored people in the media. Consequently this forms a fatal preconception of blacks that is constantly being reproduced. Langston Hughes and Richard Wright among the most prolific of American writersgained international attention and acclaim in nearly every genre of writing includingpoetry the short story the novel drama the libretto the autobiography journalisticprose children's and adolescent literature and song lyrics. Although much of theirwriting often expressing social protest was easily accessible to scholars and generalreaders there is one genre -the essay- that has gone largely unnoticed. Yet suchessays and short non-fiction passages contribute significantly to Hughes's andWright's work striving for racial equality on a local level a national as well as globallevels.At first glance it may appear fruitless to compare the non-fiction works ofHughes and Wright since the writers became famous for their poetry and fictionalmasterpieces. Also a comparison between Wright's rather epic artistic style andHughes's dense often ironic prose may seem unlikely and difficult. Yet on closerinspection you will find that both writers are surprisingly close to one another in theirway of thinking and their c