Langston Hughes is poet who grew up under Jim Crow laws just like the character Cassie in Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry by Mildred Taylor.

He published his first book of poems in 1926, just seven years before Cassie’s story takes place. He wrote about how things were and what he could dream of. In some ways, he set the stage for people like Martin Luther King, Jr. who spoke about his dreams about 40 years later. King wrote:

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal."

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slaveowners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a desert state, sweltering with the heat of injustice and oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

(From “I have a Dream” by Martin Luther King, Jr., delivered in Washington, DC, August 28, 1963.)

Hughes also wrote of dreams in his poems. The following poems appear in The Dream Keeper and Other Poems (pages 2, 4, and 57.) Read them aloud several times.

The Dream Keeper

Bring me all of your dreams,

You dreamers,

Bring me all of your

Heart melodies

That I may wrap them

In a blue cloud-cloth

Away from the too-rough finders

Of the world.

Dreams

Hold fast to dreams

For if dreams die

Life is a broken-winged bird

That cannot fly.

Hold fast to dreams

For when dreams go

Life is a barren field

Frozen with snow.

Dream Variation

To fling my arms wide

In some place of the sun,

To whirl and to dance

Till the white day is done.

Then rest at cool evening

Beneath a tall tree

While night comes on gently,

Dark like me—

That is my dream!

To fling my arms wide

In the face of the sun,

Dance! Whirl! Whirl!

Till the quick day is done.

Rest at pale evening. . . .

A tall, slim tree. . . .

Night coming tenderly

Black like me.

See if you can find other poems that have to do with dreams. What is Hughes dreaming about?

Activities:

1. Memorize two of the dream poems .

2. Write out one of the dream poems and make an illustration that fits the poem.

3. Write your own dream poem. What do you dream of? Try to use the poet’s tools to create your poem.

4. Think of Cassie or from Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry or a character from another book. What does the character dream about or hope for? Write a poem in the character’s voice, telling about her/his dreams.