James Presley notes "one summer in Chicago when he was a teen-ager Langston Hughes felt the American Dream explode in his face; a gang of white youths beat him up so badly that he went home with blacked eyes and a swollen jaw. ... "Thank You M'am" begins around 11 o"clock at night. ... Critics take note that Langston remained unvarying in his spotlight on the problems of racism and the failure of African Americans to recognize the American Dream. ... Betsy and Clarence get together and planed to do some crazy things that night. They share a few drinks until the night is ruined when Betsy&...

• Word Count: 1559
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

The youth of Hughes is brought out by his poem "Harlem Night Club-, a piece that describes living in the moment. ... "Harlem Night Club- is unique in that it describes the integration of blacks and whites in a positive tone. ... Like the earlier poem "Harlem Night Club-, it is a fast-paced, forceful piece. ... For Hughes, it would appear that his life ended on a dejected note. ...

• Word Count: 1313
• Approx Pages: 5
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

Baldwin wrote in "Notes of a Native Son- about his struggles with the hatred that surrounded and almost eventually consumed him. ... Since "Notes of a Native Son- is a personal account of his life, the entire writing is essentially evidence. ... Her day began before sun up, and did not end until late at night. ... She did not say it with the blunt, derisive hostility to which I had grown accustomed, but rather, with a note of apology in her voice, and fear. ...

• Word Count: 1418
• Approx Pages: 6
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

It is interesting to note as well, that it is the dietician who causes Joe to be taken out of the orphanage, the only home he has even known, by telling the matron of the orphanage of Joe's mixed heritage. ... They initially have a very surprising and sweet rapport: "That night they talked. ... Perhaps he was aware of the abnegation in it: the imperious and fierce urgency that concealed an actual despair at frustrate and irrevocable years, which she appeared to compensate each night as if she believed that it would be the last night on earth by damming herself forever to the hell of...

• Word Count: 1750
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: High School

But Pecola cannon escape her loveless home anymore than she can hide from a community, which shuns her for inherited ugliness, even though she vainly tried: "Each night, without fail, she prays for blue eyes- (Morrison 40) She does however, disrupt her reverie long enough to wonder why she is shunned: "Long hours she sat looking in the mirror, trying to discover the secret of the ugliness that made her ignored or despised at school, by teachers and classmates alike."" ...

• Word Count: 2499
• Approx Pages: 10
• Has Bibliography

The waitress refused to serve them and the students remained sitting there until the store closed for the night. ... A columnist for the segregation minded Richmond News Leader wrote, "Here were the colored students in coats, white shirts, and ties and one of them was reading Goethe and one was taking notes from a biology text. ...

• Word Count: 2394
• Approx Pages: 10
• Grade Level: High School