“I heard the singing of the Mississippi when Abe Lincoln went down to New Orleans, and I’ve seen its muddy bosom turn all golden in the sunset.”
The Negro Speaks of Rivers by Langston Hughes was first published n the June 1921 issue of The Crisis, the magazine of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. The poem is found in The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes, published by Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. Copyright © 1994 the Estate of Langston Hughes.
Poem: The Negro Speaks of Rivers
I’ve known rivers:
I’ve known rivers ancient
as the world and older than the flow of human blood in human veins.
My soul has grown deep like the rivers.
I bathed in the Euphrates when dawns were young.
I built my hut near the Congo and it lulled me to sleep.
I looked upon the Nile and raised the pyramids above it.
I heard the singing of the Mississippi when Abe Lincoln went down to New Orleans, and I’ve seen its muddy bosom turn all golden in the sunset.
I’ve known rivers:
Ancient, dusky rivers.
My soul has grown deep like the rivers.
About The Artist Spotlight Series
The Artist Spotlight Series explores art, artists, and the ideas behind the art illuminating and shaping our world.
The Artist Spotlight Series is an EMLab brand produced by Evan Matthew Papp and we are a proud member of the Labor Radio Podcast Network. Support media, authors, artists, historians, and journalists, who are fighting to improve the prosperity of the working class.
Follow our work at https://www.empathymedialab.com/artistspotlight.
#ArtistSpotlight
African Artist’s Intellectual Property with Foza Fawehinmi - Artist Works
MLK Tapes: What We’ve Learned About the Interests Fighting Unity and Organized Labor
Working 9 to 5 A Women’s Movement, a Labor Union, and Iconic Movie with Ellen Cassedy
Bwando Farms Growing Good Food in Zambia with Conrad Bwalya
Policies for Universal Prosperity with Daniel Burke - Political Economy Project
Climate Change as Class War with Matt Huber - Author and Professor of Geography
261. Life with Energy Scarcity 101 with Irina Slav - Political Economy Project
Radical Hamilton - Economic Lessons from a Misunderstood Founder with author Christian Parenti
Body.Electric. Is a Science Fiction Anthology Series by Patrick Hale - Artist Works
Unionizing Apple Stores with Billy Jarboe AppleCore Union Member and Organizer
America’s Fight for Universal Progress from Franklin to Kennedy with Author and Historian Anton Chaitkin
Creative Recycling with Zsameria of SwapDC
THANK A UNION - Cecil Roberts President United Mine Workers of America - Battle of Blair Mountain
Fighting for a Better Future with Labor Journalist Hamilton Nolan - Labor Solidarity Podcast
Luke Rockhold on Healthcare and UFC Fighter Pay
West Virginia Mine Wars Museum with Barbara Ellen Smith
”We choose to go to the Moon” - JFK on Space Exploration
Lynne Hancock - Nuclear Times Newsletter of the United Steel Workers
Jim Key President Atomic Energy Workers Council United Steel Workers
Michael Gene Sullivan of the San Francisco Mime Troupe - Artist Works
Join Podbean Ads Marketplace and connect with engaged listeners.
Advertise Today
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free