The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain

Use these essay questions as writing and critical thinking exercises for all levels of writers, and to build their literary analysis skills by requiring textual references throughout the essay.

Differentiation Suggestion: For English learners or struggling writers, strategies that work well include graphic organizers, sentence frames or starters, group work, or oral responses.

Scaffolded Essay Questions

Student Prompt: Write a short (1-3 paragraph) response using one of the bulleted outlines below. Cite details from the text over the course of your response that serve as examples and support.

1. Hughes’s essay reflects on the tension between Assimilation Versus Resistance.

• Ultimately, what factors stand in the way of resisting the “urge toward whiteness”? (topic sentence)
• Explore the complexities of these factors as Hughes presents them.
• In your concluding sentences, articulate the importance of resisting assimilation for the development of the Black artist.

2. In his conclusion, Hughes asserts that the future of Black art depends upon Black artists being “free within [them]selves.” Ultimately, he believes racial art requires a kind of mental and spiritual emancipation.

• How is this internal freedom both individual and collective? (topic sentence)
• Explore the ways that this freedom fosters “truly racial” art, according to the essay.
• In your concluding sentences, discuss how this internal freedom is a form of resistance.