“What happens to a dream deferred?” We are always in dialogue with Langston Hughes' short poem Harlem, first published in 1951. I can hear Hughes in the background of Dr. King’s “I Have a ...

ELISA NEW: When, in 1951, Langston Hughes published his book-length jazz poem "Montage of a Dream Deferred," it had been 30 years since he'd arrived in Harlem from Joplin, Missouri.

Langston Hughes wrote about dreams at a time when racism meant that black people’s dreams were silenced. ... What happens to a dream deferred, he asked: sometimes it just becomes a "heavy load." ...

10 Langston Hughes Poems That Define the ... “Harlem,” also known as “A Dream Deferred,” was written during a time when the ...

We are always in dialogue with Langston Hughes' short poem Harlem, first published in 1951. I can hear Hughes in the background of Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech in 1963.