Political Concerns in Langston Hughes’s Scottsboro Limited

Abstract

This article aims to elucidate Langston Hughes’s political concerns as reflected in his most important political play, Scottsboro Limited (1931). Langston Hughes is a distinguished African American writer who tried his hand in almost all literary genres. He epitomized the views and ideals of the African American literary movement known as ‘The Harlem Renaissance’. In this play, he attempts to justify his race’s need to pursue their political rights and fight for the achievement of equality and liberty. This is achieved by illustrating the contaminated political atmosphere and circumstances under which African Americans were leading their life. Furthermore, the reasons that led to Hughes’s political resentment and indignation are all brought to light. In this play, he presents an outrageous example that shows the prevalence of political corruption inside the law system itself. What is noticeable about Langston Hughes is that he does not confine himself to discussing the conditions of African Americans, but he attempts to deal with the absorbed rights of other groups of people worldwide. Consequently, he saw that there was a need for an international revolution against whites’ oppression. These harsh forces were represented by the white imperialists and wealthy persons both in Europe and the USA. In Scottsboro Limited, he encourages these helpless people to get united to be able to strive against their oppressors and attain their full rights. The last point that this article handles is Hughes’s relationship with the communist part. His illustration of how the political rights of poor people internationally are down-trodden was the reason which lurked behind the racially-prejudiced attempts to relate him to the activities of Communism in American society. They accused him of being a communist, though he never was. All these aspects are crystalized in the analysis of the play.