Poetry for Young People, Langston Hughes

Poetry for Young People, Langston Hughes

I was originally going to post for "The Little Prince" but I couldn't once I found this book in the school library. This is a collection of poems that addresses every level of the social justice curriculum. Self love and acceptance is addressed in "My People", acceptance of others is addressed in "Harlem", social movements is addressed in "Words Like Freedom" and "I Dream A World". There are poems of African history, about slave drums and jazz beats, about Jim Crow laws and segregation. Students who read these poems, will be exposed to language that is beautiful and descriptive as well as being exposed to African American History. Their are so many wonderful experiences students can have as a result to reading this poetry. They can create their own poetry and illustrations to create a class book of their own, students may also be inspiried to learn more about the actual history to go a long with the history that is described in the poems. As New York City school teachers, we may feel pressure to teach the "Teachers College" version of literacy, this will be a great resourse to teach poetry and all the levels of social justice at the same time.