Racism and Alienation: Deconstructing the Strong Black Woman in Langston Hughes’s “Cora Unashamed”

Abstract

Many African American critics have taken issue with Langston Hughes’s endorsement of transracial solidarity. The authorial demand to achieve affinity amongst the social minorities whose tribulations transcend cultural boundaries provoked black nationalists. This paper seeks to reappraise Hughes’s international and transracial ideals. The paper argues that African American suffering results from the larger forces of oppression that underpin capitalist reproduction. More specifically, it identifies the suffering as a ramification of the capitalist exploitation of labor power. Based on the close analysis of “Cora Unashamed,” this paper examines how the social oppression of black people historically functioned to alienate their humanity while rendering them receptive to harsh working environments.