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POINT OF VIEW -- Poetry of the Civil Rights Movement:
“Harlem” and “Soy Joaquin”
BACKGROUND -- The brief poem "Harlem" introduces themes that run throughout
Langston Hughes's volume Montage of a Dream Deferred and throughout his career as a
poet. This volume, published in 1951, focuses on the conditions of a people whose
dreams have been limited, put off, or lost in post-World War II Harlem. Hughes claimed
that ninety percent of his work attempted "to explain and illuminate the Negro condition
in America." As a result of this focus, Hughes was dubbed "the poet laureate of Harlem."
The poem "Harlem" questions the social consequences of so many deferred dreams,
hinting at the resentment and racial strife that eventually erupted with the Civil Rights
movement of the 1950s and 1960s and continues today. Asking "what happens to a dream
deferred?" the poem sketches a series of images of decay and waste, representing the
dream (or the dreamer's) fate. While many of the potential consequences affect only the
individual dreamer, the ending of the poem suggests that, when despair is epidemic, it
may "explode" and cause broad social and political damage.
Before Hughes wrote, many African-American artists avoided portraying lower-class
black life because they believed such images fed racist stereotypes and attitudes. Hughes
believed that realistic portraits of actual people would counter negative caricatures of
African Americans more effectively and so wrote about and for the common person.
Spoken by a variety of personas, the poems in Montage of a Dream Deferred capture the
distinct patterns and rhythms of African-American folk idiom. Hughes integrated the
rhythms and structures of jazz, blues, and bebop into his poetry as well, working to create
a poetry which was African-American in its rhythms, techniques, images, allusions, and
diction.
Harlem
By Langston Hughes
What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore—
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over—
like a syrupy sweet?
Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.
Or does it explode?
BACKGROUND -- Rodolfo Corky Gonzales was an iconic leader in the movement for
justice and equality for Mexican-Americans in the Southwest, and he is credited with
raising the nation’s awareness of the plight of urban Chicanos.
In the mid-1960’s he founded an urban civil rights and cultural movement called the
Crusade for Justice which advocated Chicano nationalism. During the late sixties and
early seventies, he organized walkouts, demonstrations against police brutality and
marches against the Vietnam War.
In 1968, Gonzales led a Chicano contingent to the Poor People’s March on Washington
D.C and issued a "plan of the Barrio" which demanded better housing, education and
restitution of pueblo lands. Gonzales was also an organizer of the Annual Chicano Youth
Liberation Conference which sought to create unity among Chicano youth.
Gonzales also advocated for increased political representation for Chicanos. In 1972 he
was the keynote speaker at the newly formed La Raza Unida Party national convention in
El Paso Texas. The party fielded political candidates to run for office in the state.
But perhaps Corky Gonzales is best known for his poem "I am Joaquin/Yo Soy Joaquin."
He wrote the epic poem in 1965, and it is one of the most important literary works to
emerge from the Chicano movement. In the poem, Gonzales tells of the historic struggles
faced by Mexican Americans in the United States.
I am Joaquin
Yo Soy Joaquin
by Rodolpho “Corky” Gonzales
I am Joaquin,
lost in a world of confusion,
caught up in the whirl of a
gringo society,
confused by the rules,
scorned by attitudes,
suppressed by manipulation,
by abuse
and destroyed by modern society.
My fathers
have lost the economic battle
and won
the struggle of cultural survival.
gringo = white
suppressed by manipulations = kept down
And now!
I must choose
between
the paradox of
victory of the spirit,
despite physical hunger,
or
to exist in the grasp
of American social neurosis,
sterilization of the soul
and a full stomach.
paradox = contradiction
social neurosis = stress from society
sterilization = to make unproductiive
I am Joaquín.
I must fight
and win this struggle
for my sons, and they
must know from me
who I am.
And now the trumpet sounds,
The music of the people stirs the
Revolution.
Like a sleeping giant it slowly
Rears its head
To the sound of
Tramping feet
Clamoring voices
Mariachi strains
Fiery tequila explosions
The smell of chile verde and
Soft brown eyes of expectation for a
Better life.
La raza!
Méjicano!
Español!
Latino!
Chicano!
Or whatever I call myself,
I look the same
I feel the same
I cry
And
Sing the same.
Mariachi = a style of Mexican music
chile verde = green pepper
Raza = Mexican race
Mejicano = Mexican
Espanol = Spanish
I am the masses of my people and
I refuse to be absorbed.
I am Joaquin
The odds are great
But my spirit is strong
My faith unbreakable
My blood is pure
I am Aztec Prince and Christian Christ
I SHALL ENDURE!
I WILL ENDURE!
Directions: Write answers on a separate sheet of paper in complete sentences.
HARLEM
1. What is the dream that the narrator in Hughes’ poem refers to and what do you
think deferred this dream in the U.S.?
2. Provide a quote for what might happen to a deferred dream. What could it mean
for this dream to explode?
I AM JOAQUIN
3. What is the identity Joaquin is struggling with? Provide a quote in your
explanation.
4. What point of view does he have about American society? Provide a quote in
your explanation.
REFLECTION
5. How do these poems help us to better understand the African American and
Chicano civil rights movements than by just reading a textbook?
6. What do the poems teach us about the similarities between their struggles?
Explain.
I am Joaquin
Yo Soy Joaquin
by Rodolpho “Corky” Gonzales
Yo soy Joaquín,
Perdido en un mundo de confusión,
Enganchado en el remolino de una
sociedad gringa,
Confundido por las reglas,
Despreciado por las actitudes,
Sofocado por manipulaciones,
Y destrozado por la sociedad moderna.
Mis padres
perdieron la batalla económica
Y conquistaron
La lucha de supervivencia cultural.
Y ¡ahora!
Yo tengo que escoger
Entremedias
De la paradoja de
Triunfo del espíritu,
A despecho de hambre física,
O
Existir en la empuñada
Del neurosis social americano,
Esterilización del alma
Y una panza llena.
Yo soy Joaquín.
Debo pelear
Y ganar la lucha
Para mis hijos, y ellos
Deben saber de mí,
Quien soy yo.
Y ahora suena la trompeta,
La música de la gente incita la revolución.
Como un gigantón soñoliento lentamente
Alza su cabeza
Al sonida de
Patulladas
Voces clamorosas
Tañido de mariachis
Explosiones ardientes de tequila
El aroma de chile verde y
Ojos morenos, esperanzosos de una
Vida mejor.
¡La Raza!
¡Méxicano!
¡Español!
¡Latino!
¡Hispano!
¡Chicano!
O lo que me llame yo,
Yo parezco lo mismo
Yo siento lo mismo
Yo lloro
Y
Canto lo mismo.
Yo soy el bulto de mi gente y
Yo renuncio ser absorbido.
Yo soy Joaquín.
Las desigualdades son grandes
Pero mi espíritu es firme,
Mi fe impenetrable,
Mi sangre pura.
Soy príncipe azteca y Cristo cristiano.
¡YO PERDURARÉ!
¡YO PERDURARÉ!