“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
Servants to Technology - The Gig Podcast - Season 2 Episode 2
The World’s Oldest Profession - The Gig Podcast - Season 2 Episode 1
The Labor Link - Kalpona Akter, Director of the Bangladesh Center for Workers Solidarity
Radio Labour Covers Tola Moeun‘s Labor Link Interview
The Labor Link - Tola Moeun, Executive Director of the Center for Alliance of Labor and Human Rights in Cambodia
Radio Labour Covers Sawit Kaewwan Labor Link Interview
The Labor Link - Sawit Kaewwan, the secretary general of the State Enterprises Workers’ Relations Confederation (SERC) in Thailand
178. Economic Justice For All - Faith and Labor (Episode 5)
177. Mother Jones in West Virginia Coal Fields Making Speeches to Excite Miners
176. Voices from the Centennial March to Blair Mountain - Organized by the United Mine Workers of America
175. Remembering 1921: The Battle of Blair Mountain - David Rovics Audio Essay
174. My Father, John Gregory Papp's Birthday, August 26, 1945
173. The Road to Blair Mountain - Saving a Mine Wars Battlefield from King Coal
172. Richard Trumka Tribute - American System TV
171. Laborem Exercens (Through Work) - Faith and Labor Episode 4
170. Excerpt - Member Spotlight: Maximillian Alvarez host of Working People
169. Labor Radio Podcast Network Weekly Roundup - July 10, 2021
168. Dylan James Brock Author of Roosevelt, Michigan - EMLab Artist Profiles
167. Nuclear Power Plants: Our Industrial Cathedrals with Emmet Penney
166. Movie Club Discussion: The New Deal For Artists - LGTTM
Join Podbean Ads Marketplace and connect with engaged listeners.
Advertise Today
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free